Afleveringen
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I want today to unpack the doctrine taught by the Church Father S. John of Damascus, which is included on our service bulletin. S. John of Damascus says, âThe day of the Nativity of the Theotokos [thatâs the title of Mary, it means âbearer of Godâ] is the feast of joy for the whole world, because through the Theotokos the entire human race was renewed and the grief of the first mother Eve was changed into joy.â The Church rejoices at Maryâs nativity, in other words, for two reasons. The first is that through it the entire human race was renewed, and the second is that through it Eveâs grief was changed into joy.
I will start with the second reason. We rejoice because through the Nativity of Mary, the grief of the first mother Eve was changed into joy. Eve grieved because of her disobedience to Godâs will. Her disobedience is her saying âNoâ to what God ordained for their food. Eveâs âno,â is a refusal of Godâs plan of creation. In this, her ânoâ summarizes and embodies our sinfulness, for we are all sinners in a fallen world. And her ânoâ summarizes and embodies the entirety of the disobedience toward God seen throughout Old Testament Scripture; the Old Testament is an extensive elaboration of Eveâs refusal of God. Eveâs grief is heard in Moses and Joshua bemoaning the disobedience of the sons of Israel; Eveâs grief is heard in the prophets, rebuking Israel of their stiff-necked hardness of heart. Eveâs grief is the grief of a people lost and alienated from God. Mary changed all this. She counters Eveâs no with a holy and obedient âyes.â Her yes to God comes in her whole life and especially at the annunciation â Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to Thy Word â her yes, which cooperates with Godâs plan of creation, redeems and transforms Eveâs no. Maryâs whole life was a yes to God, and yes which opens the doorway to Christ. Maryâs yes changes the grief of the people of God into joy.
Thatâs the second part of the teaching of S. John of Damascus. For the first part of S. Johnâs teaching, let us consider the Gospel passage from Matthew. There are two genealogies of Jesus in the New Testament. These are the genealogy in S. Matthewâs Gospel account, which we just heard, and also that in the Gospel account of S. Luke. Neither make for the most gripping narrative or story, yet there are details of Matthewâs genealogy to notice.
For one, Jesus is described both as the son of David and the son of Abraham. This identification of Jesus as the son of David echoes the words of the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary at the annunciation. To Mary, Gabriel says, âBehold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there will be no end.â In 2nd Samuel, chapter 7, God tells David, through Nathan, that âWhen your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever.â Jesus being the son of David, therefore, ratifies the testimony Christ Himself gave anonymously to David, and makes the physical lineage traced from David also sacred lineage. It is holy because it is physical: body to body, mother to mother.
The identification of Jesus as the son of Abraham creates a specifically spiritual lineage to go along with the physical lineage from David. Abraham expresses faith in God. Genesis 15:6: âAnd he [Abraham] believed the Lord; and he [God] reckoned it to him as righteousness.â Abraham is known as a father of our faith, because those that believe in the Holy Trinity share in Abrahamâs faith, and are children of Abraham: spiritual children, sharing and participating in the Holy Spirit. As S. Paul said to the church in Corinth: âWe are the temple of the living God; as God said, âI will live in them and move among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my peopleââ (2 Cor 6.16). As the Holy Spirit lives in us and moves among us, we are participating in the Kingdom, which is life in the Holy Spirit, the same life initiated in Abraham. S. Paul is even more specific in his Epistle to the Galatians, when Paul writes, âSo you see that it is men of faith who are the sons of Abraham. . . . Those who are men of faith are blessed with Abraham who had faith.â Hence within the faith community of the Holy Spirit is Jesus Christ. He is part of that spiritual lineage.
Yet Jesus is more than a mere part or participant in the spiritual lineage of Abraham and the physical lineage of David. For the genealogy of S. Matthew concludes by acknowledging Blessed Mary, of whom Jesus was born, Who is called Christ. Jesus is the anointed one, which is what âChristâ means. He is the anointed King Who reigns over the kingdom. He reigns as King on the throne of David over the house of Jacob, and He is the anointed King of the historical faith community of Abraham. Thus the entirety of the revelation was made manifest in Christ; in the words of S. Paul, âwhen the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law.â
We see clearly that Maryâs role in the economy of Godâs plan of salvation is unmistakable. She is part of the physical lineage, and she is part of the spiritual lineage. While salvation history had been unfolding long before she was born, Godâs plan of salvation began to come into clarity when the person of Mary herself was born. Without the birth of Mary, the King would not be known. Hence her birth is a feast of joy for the whole world, as S. John of Damascus teaches.
Because of Christ, through her the entire human race was renewed, he also teaches, not because she is the savior, but because He Who is the Saviour, the King, Christ Jesus, is known through her birth of Him, physically and spiritually. Physically, because He was actually born from her; and spiritually, because of Maryâs faith. Because all of the Church celebrates Maryâs acceptance, her cooperation with grace, her yes to Godâs initiative to reveal through her the fullness of His plan for salvation, which is Jesus Christ, which came from her yes â because of all this the Church celebrates Maryâs nativity.
In Luke 11 we hear this: âA woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, âBlessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!â But he said, âBlessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!â Blessed is Our Lady because of the physical (the womb that bore, the breasts he sucked), but even more so, Blessed is Our Lady because of the spiritual (hearing the word of God and keeping it); Mary recapitulating Abrahamâs obedience and doing so on behalf of us all, changing the Eveâs grief into Gospel joy, for Christ redeems Eveâs disobedience and loss of paradise through the Gospel: the Gospel which is Christ, Who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
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Evenings With Bede is a homily podcast. The episodes are taken from the Sunday solemn Plainsong Evensong services of Saint Paulâs, New Smyrna Beach, Fla., where I am Rector.
SEASON TWO is devoted to understanding the Song of Songs with the Venerable S. Bede as teacher, and yours truly as interpreter. We will go verse by verse through the entirety of the Song of Songs.
The format is a short passage from the Song of Songs, then comes commentary from the Bede, and finally an interpretive homily by yours truly expounding upon both. The audio for all three is found above. The text of the two passages is found below.
A Lesson from the Song of Songs, 1.8
If you do not know yourself, O fairest among women, go forth and follow the tracks of the flocks, and pasture your kids by the shepherdsâ tents. I have compared you, my friend, to my company of horsemen among Pharaoh's chariots. Your cheeks are beautiful as turtledoveâs; your neck as jewels; we will make you necklaces of gold, inlaid with silver.
A Lesson from a Treatise by the Venerable S. Bede
This same Bridegroom (that is, Christ the Eternal Word of God), continues by saying, âAnd pasture your kids beside the shepherdsâ tents,â that is to say, âFeed the lost disciples who have abandoned the words that are given by the one Shepherd through the council of prudent teachers and followed after the doctrines of foolish teachers, for surely I have commanded you that if you love Me, you will indeed pasture, even feed, my sheep (that is, the souls who serve Me in simplicity and innocence) with the word of salvation, and it is My will that you should attend to this duty with so much care that you would prefer to suffer every misfortune and even to undergo the anguish of death rather than to leave off feeding them. How can you not know that you have been betrothed to me Me under the condition that you are to pasture your kids (that is, those who have associated with erring teachers) rather than to wait on the wanton and proud, who are rightly called both âkidsâ and âyour kids,â namely those who are to be positioned on the left hand at the judgment, but they are yours since they have not been instructed according to the rule of my commandments but rather according to your errors (that is, the ones in which you were held fast before you were united with Me).â Now the Lord is not saying these things by way of commanding but rather by way of threatening and insinuating what would happen to those who separate themselves from the unity of ecclesiastical peace because they cannot bear the misfortune of trials, as in the Gospel when Our Lord says, âEither make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruitâ (Mt 12.33), He is not commanding us to do evil, but He is teaching what reward awaits those who do evil.
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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And so it was that when Jesus taught the truth of the Eucharist, many of His disciples drew back and no longer went about with Him. The Gospel both attracts, and it repels. The Gospel attracts those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, who know they are in need of a Savior; the Gospel repels those who think themselves already righteous, not in need of a Savior. The specific teaching that repelled many disciples and caused them to not follow Him was the teaching on the Eucharist: that âunless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.â When they heard that Jesus is the living bread which came down from heaven, it threw these disciples over the edge. It was obvious to Jesus, not only in that they walked away, but before that they murmured amongst themselves. And, as S. John tells us, Our Lord knew from the first who those were that did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him. It makes one wonder if our Lord knows this about disciples in the Church today, that He likewise knows who those are today in the Church that do not believe, and who those are today in the Church that would betray Him, which must mean teach about Him falsely and in a way contrary to Church tradition?
Be that as it may, from this episode comes important teaching, for our Lord teaches that it is the Holy Spirit that gives life. Indeed, the importance of this teaching in John 6 is attested by the fact that it is part of the Nicene Creed. For we say about the Holy Spirit that He is the Lord and giver of Life. The Life is Christ; the giver of the Life is the Holy Spirit. The basis for the Church is the presence of the Holy Spirit in His power; likewise, the basis for a parish church is the presence of the Holy Spirit in His power. As our Collect reads, the Church is gathered in unity by the Holy Spirit. If God chooses to take away His Holy Spirit from a place, which is His prerogative being as He is God, then without the Holy Spirit, a parish church loses unity and shrivels up and dies. It may still exist as a social gathering, a social club, a community of like-minded individuals, but it is not part of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
If this sounds too drastic a statement, I present to you the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit as He who âwill teach you all things, and bring to remembrance all that I have said to you.â Jesus also said that it is the Holy Spirit Who guides us into all truth. Without the Holy Spirit, we have no one to teach us, no one to bring to our remembrance the words of Christ, no one to guide us into truth. Without all that, of course there cannot be the Church. And so we must take our Lordâs teaching today with full seriousness: It is the Holy Spirit that gives Life.
And while many stopped following Jesus, some did stay, and we have a glorious account from Saint Peter, who responded to our Lordâs question âDo you also wish to go away?â by saying, âLord, to Whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.â This shows the Holy Spirit active in His power within S. Peter and the other disciples that agreed with Peter and stayed. For Peter spoke truth, and no one can speak truth about Christ without the power of the Holy Spirit working in him. Peter in this moment is seeing beyond mere flesh and blood, and into the divinity of Christ. S. Paul teaches that the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Peter was beholding Christ with the eyes of Spirit, eyes opened and illumined by the Holy Spirit. Peter was glimpsing how Christ is the icon, the image, of the invisible God the Father, that Christ is the Holy One of God. The Holy Spirit, Who is the Kingdom of God, bore witness to Christ among Peter and the disciples that did not draw back and instead continued with Jesus.
And so we see that the joy of the Gospel is life in the Holy Spirit. By the Holy Spirit, we recognize the presence of Christ, like Mary and Elisabeth at the Visitation. By the Holy Spirit, we accept our Lordâs teaching that the consecrated bread and wine in the Liturgy is transformed and changed into His most precious Body and Blood. Jesus said so, and the Holy Spirit lets us see these words about the Eucharist as the words of eternal life. And indeed, by the Holy Spirit we accept the Sacred Scriptures as Holy, as Inspired, as the Library about Christ. By the Holy Spirit we are united in the confession of one faith, with the power of serve Christ as a royal priesthood, even to preach the Gospel in our lives both in word and in deed: the Gospel of Him Who is the Eternal Word of God, Jesus Christ, Who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Get full access to Fr Matthew C. Dallman's Substack at frmcdallman.substack.com/subscribe -
Evenings With Bede is a homily podcast. The episodes are taken from the Sunday solemn Plainsong Evensong services of Saint Paulâs, New Smyrna Beach, Fla., where I am Rector.
SEASON TWO is devoted to understanding the Song of Songs with the Venerable S. Bede as teacher, and yours truly as interpreter. We will go verse by verse through the entirety of the Song of Songs.
The format is a short passage from the Song of Songs, then comes commentary from the Bede, and finally an interpretive homily by yours truly expounding upon both. The audio for all three is found above. The text of the two passages is found below.
A Lesson from the Song of Songs, 1.8
If you do not know yourself, O fairest among women, go forth and follow the tracks of the flocks, and pasture your kids by the shepherdsâ tents. I have compared you, my friend, to my company of horsemen among Pharaoh's chariots. Your cheeks are beautiful as turtledoveâs; your neck as jewels; we will make you necklaces of gold, inlaid with silver.
A Lesson from a Treatise by the Venerable S. Bede
Because this same bride (that is, the Church of Christ), when she had sought the help of His presence in the midst of tribulations, had gone on to say in the persona of the fainthearted, âLest I begin to wander after the flocks of Your companions,â He at once responded to her anxiety with kindly rebuke like that saying in the Gospel: âYou of little faith, why did you doubt?â (Mt 14.31). For there follows: âIf you do not know yourself, O fairest among women, go forth and follow the tracks of the flocks.â He asks, âHow can you talk as if I could on any account forsake you in the time of trial, and how can you complain that you have been blackened by too much heat as if from the noonday sun while you were keeping our vineyard? Through the washing of regeneration I have previously made you the fairest among women (that is, among the synagogues of other doctrines), but I have arranged for your beauty to be restored through the great ordeal of tribulation. But if by chance you neither know these things, nor remember that no one âis crowned without contending according to the rulesâ (2 Tim 2.5), then âgo forthâ from my company âand follow the tracks of the flocksâ (that is, imitate the erratic deeds of those who go astray), although I myself have resolved that you are truly the keeper of my one flock, for which there is âone sheepfold and one shepherdâ (Jn 10.16).
If you find this edifying, please consider (if you havenât already) becoming a paid subscriber. Your support goes directly to supporting the ministry of Akenside Institute for English Spirituality, a project I started 12 years ago.
Get full access to Fr Matthew C. Dallman's Substack at frmcdallman.substack.com/subscribe -
One of the mandatory steps within the process of being ordained to the Priesthood is to do an internship as a hospital chaplain. In my case, I spent twenty weeks in four hospitals in suburban Chicago, near where my family lived at the time (this was fall 2015). Although I spoke with priests who bemoaned and even regretted their chaplain internship experience (and I even heard some horror stories), many priests, including my then-Bishop, the Prelate who ordained me, assured me that hospital chaplaincy was for them meaningful, positive, and deeply, and permanently, life-changing.
And I must say, it was for me as well. Thanks be to God! It was never easy, and often unpredictable. My very first overnight duty on-call saw me assist an experienced chaplain whom I was shadowing as we ministered to a large family of over 25 relatives who that night suffered the loss of one of their family members to a kind of brain hemorrhage that, tragically, was inoperable. Talk about being thrown into the deep end of the pool and having to learn how to swim. Over the twenty weeks, in not only hospital patients and their families, but in the hospital staff, nurses, doctors, and my fellow chaplains, I witnessed so many instances of loss, of tragedy, of suffering and confusion, but also I witnessed joy, love, faith, and remarkable examples of God active in peopleâs lives, holding them up by His grace. These were exactly the kinds of experiences one should have in preparing for the sacrificial ministry of the sacred priesthood.
The ultimate example of sacrificial priestly life is Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His example to us, being divine and human mingled together, is so profound that it is well past our ability to grasp it completely and finally. This is why we continually revisit the accounts of His life given to us by the Evangelistsâthat by hearing them, by which we read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them both literally and spiritually (both senses together always), we are drawn deeper into the mystery of Him, drawn into deeper encounter of Him and His presence, which as well reveals the mystery of Christ in us. This we do even as we read about many actions of Christ, and many of His sayings and words, that are hard to understand.
For example, Jesus says to us today in the Gospel: âTruly, truly, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.â This was a teaching, a hard saying, that was so hard, it sifted and weeded out the true disciples from the larger group of Jesus followers. After hearing this, many followers drew back and no longer went about with him. Some of us, even today, might flinch a bit at this saying, at both its physicality (flesh and blood) and its bluntness. Jesus, often winsome and generous in His public ministry, was nonetheless never above teaching in a direct, confrontational, and even aggressive way. Perhaps this is because being poked awake from a cozy, care-free, spectator kind of discipleship into discipleship that is active, engaged, and inquiring is something disciples of Christ constantly need.
And yet the Church, in remembering the words of Jesus, and taking them to heart in prayer in the years and decades after the Ascension of Christ, began to discern within the hard sayings of Jesus a depth that echoed profoundly in the Scriptures. We hear an example of this in our passage from the Book of Proverbs. Wisdom, who we learn was Godâs first creation, and who from the beginning rejoiced daily in Godâs activities, uses maids (which represent apostles and preachers of the Gospel) to invite simple people (meaning those people, like Nathaniel, who are without guile but also yet to some extent naive about life) to into her house: âCome,â she says, âeat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave simpleness, and live, and walk in the way of insight.â This elaborates upon our Lordâs hard saying, âUnless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.â Jesus teaches us that His flesh is bread. Eating His bread and drinking His wine is precisely the nourishment we need to walk in the way of insight, to have the lamp of illumination lighting up our path, because our mind is more Christ-like.
In the Eucharist, our nourishment is Christ. Our nourishment is Him, which means His sacrificial life. To eat the consecrated bread is to receive into our body Christâs sacrifice: in fact Him on the Cross. To drink the consecrated wine is to receive Christâs life (blood in ancient understanding being the source of life). Eternal life is received through Christâs sacrifice and Christâs life. In receiving the Eucharist, we receive Christâs sacrificial life, in which the entirety of His sacrificial life is really and truly present: abiding in us, and we in Him.
The Almighty God the Father has given His only Son to be for us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life. As we receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist, the source and summit of Christian life, we open heart to receive Christ, Who in S. Paulâs words is the power of God and the wisdom of God. This is our participation in the Eucharist. We enter Christâs redemptive stream, His river of wisdom, the streams whereof make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. In the Eucharist, let us ever be still, and know in the Eucharist is God: even the very Christ Who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God: world without end.
Get full access to Fr Matthew C. Dallman's Substack at frmcdallman.substack.com/subscribe -
Evenings With Bede is a homily podcast. The episodes are taken from the Sunday solemn Plainsong Evensong services of Saint Paulâs, New Smyrna Beach, Fla., where I am Rector.
SEASON TWO is devoted to understanding the Song of Songs with the Venerable S. Bede as teacher, and yours truly as interpreter. We will go verse by verse through the entirety of the Song of Songs.
The format is a short passage from the Song of Songs, then comes commentary from the Bede, and finally an interpretive homily by yours truly expounding upon both. The audio for all three is found above. The text of the two passages is found below.
A Lesson from the Song of Songs, 1.5
I am black but beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem. Like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. Do not think to consider me, for I am swarthy because the sun has discolored me. My motherâs children have fought against me and made me keeper of the vineyards; my own vineyard I have not kept. Show me, You Whom my soul loves, where You pasture Your flock, where You lie down at midday; lest I begin to wander after the flocks of Your companions.
A Lesson from a Treatise by the Venerable S. Bede
After saying, âShow me, You Whom my soul loves, where You pasture Your flock, where You lie down at midday,â the Bride of Christ, who is Holy Church, then adds, âLest I begin to wander after the flocks of Your companions,â as if she were to say openly, âSince persecution brings me a multitude of adversaries after the fashion of the noonday heat, I beseech You to declare to me, O my Redeemer and Protector, where I might find those who have been refreshed with the grace of Your presence, or which ones among all the dogmas are in harmony with the truth of Your gospel, so that I might not run into the assemblies of those who have been long separated from You and have chanced to stray from Your protection, where I would be without Your guidance and thus could by no means walk in the way of truth.â For even heretics cannot incongruously be called His âcompanions,â inasmuch as they carry around His Name or Creed or Sacraments. And did the Bride of Christ not do these things when the false apostles (namely, His companions) came from Antioch and proclaimed, âUnless you are circumcised according to the law of Moses, you cannot be savedâ (Acts 15.1)? For after she had been wearied by no little heat of dissension and questioning she at last sent Paul and Barnabas to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem to discern with greater certainty what the truth of the Gospel might be, and when the debate was concluded it was determined that the Lord Christ was the Shepherd Who dwelt among those being instructed by James, Cephas (that is, Peter), John, and the other apostles, and that His Church should be kept in His sheepfold, free from the flocks of the companions (that is, the crowds of heretics). And has the Bride of Christ not also done these things often in subsequent times? For when her motherâs children fought against her (that is, when heresies grew up to oppose her from within), she was soon diligently gathering councils of the Fathers together in order to inquire what the truth of the faith might be.
If you find this edifying, please consider (if you havenât already) becoming a paid subscriber. Your support goes directly to supporting the ministry of Akenside Institute for English Spirituality, a project I started 12 years ago.
Get full access to Fr Matthew C. Dallman's Substack at frmcdallman.substack.com/subscribe -
Over the recent Sundays I have been speaking about the five ways Christ taught the Church to know His presence among them. Firstly, in every baptized Christian; secondly, in Scripture opened and proclaimed in worship; thirdly, through Bishops, Priests, and Deacons validly ordained in the apostolic tradition; fourthly, in the Eucharist; which yields the fifth way, in the Tabernacle in the sanctuary of the church. Thus, as I said last Sunday, the Mass is a true abundance of Christâs presence. It is a banquet of Christâs presence. In the Mass, the heavenly reality of Christ meets our conditions of time and space. Therefore the Mass is not only a banquet but a heavenly banquet: a foretaste of heaven, a foretaste of life eternal. In all of human existence, there is nothing like the Mass, because of the abundance of Christâs presence in it.
Today I will focus on Christâs presence in the Eucharist, in His most precious Body and Blood. Over the course of the two thousand year life of the Church, there have been discussions, sometimes disagreements, sometimes arguments, about how the Bread and the Wine become Christâs precious Body and Blood. I have often been asked a related question: which is, when in the Mass does this transformation happen? At what point during the Massâis it during the Institution Narrative where we hear again the relevant moments of the Last Supper? Is it when the Celebrant of the Mass holds his hands outstretched over the Bread and Wine? Is it at the Epiclesis, with the grand gesture made by the Celebrant and the petition to the Father to send down the Holy Ghost upon the creatures of bread and wine, that these may be changed and transformed so that we may be partakers of Christâs most blessed Body and Blood? Is it at the Great Amen before the Our Father? Even during the Our Father? Is it when the Celebrant holds up the Body and Blood and says, âBehold the Lamb of God; behold Him Who taketh away the sins of the worldâ? Or some other moment in the Mass? When is it that the transformation and change occurs?
On this question, the Anglican position on this is is the same as the Eastern Orthodox position: we do not know. We do not claim to know precisely when the change occurs, but we fully accept that the change and transformation does occur, without question. It is because of the transcendence of God. Because the Holy Trinity is transcendent, beyond time and space, we trust that what the Church has understood to happen ever since the first Eucharist at Emmaus with two disciples, indeed happens. The Bread becomes Christâs Body; and likewise, the wine becomes Christâs Blood. Ultimately, the Anglican position is as simple as this: the bread and wine become His Body and Blood because Jesus said so. And that is not surprising because we take Holy Scripture seriously, and take seriously as well that Jesus is both God and man.
If we believe Jesus to be God: to be the only-begotten Son of the Father, indeed that Jesus is the Eternal Word of the Father, and therefore God with the Father and the Holy Ghost, then we believe His life to be divine, and thus all His words and actions to be divine. If we believe Christ to be He through Whom all things are made by the Father, then certainly we believe that because He said the Bread is His Body, that the Bread is His Body; and likewise, then certainly we believe that because He said the wine is His Blood, that the Wine is His Blood. As Jesus said, âHe who believes in Me has eternal life.â And He said, âI am the Bread of life.â And He said, âI am the living Bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this Bread, he will live for ever.â And He added, âAnd the Bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.â
All of this is direct teaching about the Eucharist. But it is also teaching about the Incarnation. John 1.14 famously reads: âAnd the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.â Often that is taken to mean as referring to His Nativity of Blessed Mary. Specifically âthe Word became fleshâ is often paraphrased into, âJesus was born of Mary.â But in our Gospel passage today, Jesus is clear: âthe Bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.â Thus according to Saint John, âthe Word became fleshâ is better paraphrased as: âChrist became Eucharist,â or âChrist became Sacrament.â His flesh is Bread which is Him given for the life of the world. He dwells among us as the Sacrament of the Eucharist; He dwells among us as we receive the Eucharist in Holy Communion which is Christ received into our body, hence dwelling with us; dwelling in us. So that we can say without guile or doubt: the joy of the Gospel is recognizing Christâs incarnating presence: His eucharistic presence incarnating in us, in our body.
And in this way the reality of Mary and Elisabeth at the Visitation, where both know the presence of Christ inwardly (Mary because Jesus is in her womb; Elisabeth because her son John leaps at the presence of Christ known through Maryâs greeting), this reality of Mary and Elisabeth is our reality: in receiving Holy Communion, Christ is in us, dwelling in us, making His presence known inwardly, incarnating Himself in us. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, even He who is the Christ, Who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Get full access to Fr Matthew C. Dallman's Substack at frmcdallman.substack.com/subscribe -
Evenings With Bede is a homily podcast. The episodes are taken from the Sunday solemn Plainsong Evensong services of Saint Paulâs, New Smyrna Beach, Fla., where I am Rector.
SEASON TWO is devoted to understanding the Song of Songs with the Venerable S. Bede as teacher, and yours truly as interpreter. We will go verse by verse through the entirety of the Song of Songs.
The format is a short passage from the Song of Songs, then comes commentary from the Bede, and finally an interpretive homily by yours truly expounding upon both. The audio for all three is found above. The text of the two passages is found below.
A Lesson from the Song of Songs, 1.5
I am black but beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem. Like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. Do not think to consider me, for I am swarthy because the sun has discolored me. My motherâs children have fought against me and made me keeper of the vineyards; my own vineyard I have not kept. Show me, You Whom my soul loves, where You pasture Your flock, where You lie down at midday; lest I begin to wander after the flocks of Your companions.
A Lesson from a Treatise by the Venerable S. Bede
As soon as Holy Church has lamented that her motherâs children have risen up against her, as soon as her own vine has been shaken by the assault, it is right for her to turn to the Lord with an anxious heart and invoke the memory of His promise, in which He said, âIn the world you have distress, but have confidence; I have overcome the worldâ (Jn 16.33). Thus she says, âShow me, You Whom my soul loves, where You pasture Your flock, where You lie down at midday.â Now, it is appropriate for her to call Him Whose assistance she entreats âthe one my soul loves,â because the graver the danger from which she desires to be delivered, the more does she love Him through Whom she knows that she will be delivered. Similar to this is that saying of the Psalmist: âI love you, O Lord, my strengthâ (Ps 18.1); which is to say openly, âThe reason that I do not cease to love You with my whole heart is that I perceive that I can have no strength apart from Your grace.â She also signifies that He is a shepherd when she says: âwhere You pasture Your flock, where You lie down at midday,â in accordance with what He Himself testifies in the Gospel: âI am the Good Shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Meâ (Jn 10.14). He pastures His sheep and lies down among them at midday, because He refreshes the hearts of His faithful ones with the memory of His heavenly kindness lest they wither away on the inside from the heat of trials, and it has been His custom to abide graciously among them. For on this account the Psalmist says, âThe Lord is my shepherd; therefore can I lack nothing. He shall feed me in a green pastureâ (Ps 23); hence S. John says: âThose who abide in charity abide in God, and God in themâ (1 Jn 4.16). Therefore, since âmany false prophetsâ (Mt 24.11) arise in the world saying, âLook! Here is the Christ! Look there!â (Mt 24.23), it is always necessary for the Church of Christ to discern through careful examination who they are in whose profession and work He can be found, and to entreat Him with pious cries that He might deign to show Himself, saying âShow me, You Whom my soul loves, where You pasture Your flock, where you lie down in midday.â
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Recognizing Christâs real and actual presence has been the cause of Christian joy from the beginning of creationââas it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.â Revealing to the Church this presence was also what Christâs Resurrection was all about: revealing that Christ is present among us, that, because of His presence, He hears us, that because of His presence, He knows us. His presence is why S. Mary and S. Elisabeth were danced and embraced in joy at the Visitation, and that same joy through Christâs presence is available to us in worship through the Liturgy, and the Christian life that flows personally from the Liturgy. By His presence we are able to put off our old nature that is corrupt through deceitful lusts (according to S. Paul). By His presence we are able to be renewed in our minds, and thus able to put on the new nature. Christâs presence transforms those who conceive Him in their heart and bear Him in their mind. Conceiving Christ in our heart and bearing Him in our mind is what S. Paul means by âlearning Christ.â
I spoke last Sunday about the five ways Christ taught the Church to know His presence among them. First, in every baptized Christian (by virtue of their Baptism); second, in Scripture opened and proclaimed in worship; third, through His apostles, which was transferred to Bishops, Priests, and Deacons following in the apostolic tradition; fourth, in the Eucharist; (which means that there is a fifth way, in the Tabernacle in a church sanctuary). Therefore we can see that the Mass is a true abundance of Christâs presence, which is why there is nothing else like the Mass in all human existence. The Mass is a banquet of Christâs presence; Christâs presence is a heavenly presence amid the conditions of time and space; thus to speak truly, the Mass is a heavenly banquet, a foretaste of heaven, a foretaste of life eternal.
The joy of the Gospel is recognizing Christâs presence. And so that we could share this joy throughout our life, in a way that is communal, within a Christian community, shared by all who are baptized, young and old: Christ gave us the Eucharist, which He instituted when He chose bread and wine to be the means by which through divine consecration, which happens during every valid Mass, these simple offerings of bread and wine become the Precious Body and Blood of Christ. These are changed and transformed by the Holy Ghost during the Mass, because the bread and wine on the Altar are taken up into God, taken up into the heavenly realm. The very nature of the bread and wine are taken into God, and that which is taken into God is transformed into His nature. That which is taken into God becomes, in the words of Jesus, âthe food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man gives to us.â He gives it to us, because the Father gives us the true bread from heaven, the bread that gives life to the world. The bread and wine become His Body and Blood because Jesus said so.
For good reason did those who remained with Christ say, âLord, give us this bread always.â For good reason, indeed! This bread gives life to the world. And it is not life of a mortal, changing, temporal kind. Rather, it is eternal life. Nothing but eternal life can come from the true bread from heaven. Nothing but eternal life can come from receiving the Eucharist. This is why the Eucharist is important; this is why the Eucharist is vital and a necessity to Christian life: it is the food which endures to eternal life.
Because of the importance and necessity of the Eucharist to Christian life, the Eucharist was one of the first things Christ revealed in His Resurrection. As His presence was known to the two disciples at Emmaus, He revealed Himself in the breaking of bread. The Church has always seen the importance, centrality, and necessity of the Eucharist since then, for why else would Christ choose to reveal the Eucharist at Emmaus on the first day of His resurrection unless it is basic and fundamental to living the resurrected life within the Church; basic and fundamental to perceiving His presence? His choice to reveal the Eucharist on the Day of His Resurrection itself shows the Church without question that the Eucharist is a requirement to attain eternal life. Christ is the Bread of Life, He tells us; He who comes to Christ shall not hunger, and He who believes in Christ shall never thirst; for Christ is the Bread of Life, Who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
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Evenings With Bede is a homily podcast. The episodes are taken from the Sunday solemn Plainsong Evensong services of Saint Paulâs, New Smyrna Beach, Fla., where I am Rector.
SEASON TWO is devoted to understanding the Song of Songs with the Venerable S. Bede as teacher, and yours truly as interpreter. We will go verse by verse through the entirety of the Song of Songs.
The format is a short passage from the Song of Songs, then comes commentary from the Bede, and finally an interpretive homily by yours truly expounding upon both. The audio for all three is found above. The text of the two passages is found below.
A Lesson from the Song of Songs, 1.5
I am black but beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem. Like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. Do not think to consider me, for I am swarthy because the sun has discolored me. My motherâs children have fought against me and made me keeper of the vineyards; my own vineyard I have not kept. Show me, You Whom my soul loves, where You pasture your flock, where You lie down at midday; lest I begin to wander after the flocks of Your companions.
A Lesson from a Treatise by the Venerable S. Bede
Because holy Church has testified that she is indeed comely on the inside with respect to her faith and virtues, but made swarthy on the outside by persecutions, it then remains for her to show from whom she will suffer the fury of the first persecution. There follows: âMy motherâs children have fought against me and made me keeper of the vineyards; my own vineyard I have not kept.â This is the voice of the early Church, which endured wards of tribulations from the very same synagogue from which she took her fleshly origin, as the Acts of the Apostles very thoroughly teaches. The first thing we should note in this verse is that the Bride of Christ justly declared herself to have been discoloured by the sun, as she was accustomed to work outdoors cultivating or keeping her own vineyard. Now there was in Jerusalem one vineyard of Christ, namely the early Church, which was consecrated by the coming of the Holy Ghost on the Day of Pentecost (that is, on the fiftieth day after the Lordâs Resurrection). At that time the apostles themselves were her keepers. And afterward, when persecution arose in the times of the blessed martyr Stephen and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the region of Judea and Samaria, it came to pass that there were more vineyards (that is, there were churches of Christ in more places) because those who were scattered here and there were preaching the word. Surely it was through the action of Divine Providence that the very scattering of the Jerusalem church was the occasion for the founding of more churches. For this reason it is appropriate that while our Latin codices (or manuscripts) say that they âwere scattered,â in the Greek it says âdiesparesanâ (that is, âthey were disseminatedâ) throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, and a little later, âThose who had been disseminated even about preaching the word of Godâ (Acts 8.4), because the persecutors were intended to drive the Church out of Judea, but unwittingly they were spreading the seedbed of the word more widely, and by persecuting one church in Jerusalem they were unwittingly causing many churches to come into existence in other places. Therefore, after it had been said that the early Church would be dark with afflictions because the children of her mother (that is, of the parricidal synagogue) were going to fight against her with hatred, it immediately went on to tell how much she was going to profit from the attacks of those same afflictions, adding in the persona of those to whom the office of preaching was entrusted: âThey have made me keeper of the vineyards; my own vineyard I have not kept,â as if to say openly, âThe harshness of the persecutions was beneficial and useful for me in that I became the keeper of many more vineyards (namely, the churches of Christ) after their tempest scattered the original vineyard (that is, the church that I at first undertook to plant and to keep in Jerusalem). Now, the statement that she had not kept the vineyard must be understood as referring not to her disposition, but to the place. For surely there was a considerable portion of the church that withdrew from Jerusalem at that time which nevertheless retained the full integrity of the faith in a heart firmly fixed, or even took up the office of preaching with a devoted voice, as we have already indicated.
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As I preached last Sunday, the joy of the Gospel is recognizing Christâs presence. I also added these words in the conclusion: âThe disciples came to realize that no place is ever lonely unless Christâs identity is forgotten. Jesus Christ is both true God and true man. Christ is present here, how can we not be joyful?â Recognizing Christâs real and actual presence has been the cause of Christian joy from the beginning of creation â âas it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.â Revealing to the Church this presence was also what Christâs Resurrection was all about: revealing that Christ is present among us, that, because of His presence, He hears us, that because of His presence, He knows us. The joy of the Gospel is recognizing Christâs presence.
We see this as well in our Gospel passage. Jesus understood that the hearts of the disciples were hardened, but in His foreknowledge He also knew that after His Resurrection and the Coming of the Holy Ghost, the disciples would remember, because of the Holy Ghost acting in them, all of what Jesus did and said â and specifically here, that they would remember not only the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand but this episode in the lake. They would remember that He walked on the lake, but they did not recognize Him. They would remember they thought He was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw Him and were terrified. When peopleâs hearts are hardened, they do not see Jesus for Who He is; they see Him as someone or something else, if they see Him at all. This was true then, and this remains true today. They were not full of joy at His presence out in the lake, but full of terror, and unholy fear.
But as Jesus did to S. Mary Magdalene outside the cave of S. Joseph of Arimathea, Jesus spoke perfectly. He spoke comforting words to the disciples. He said, âTake courage. It is I. Do not be afraid.â And He climbed into the boat with them, which made His presence intense and intimate. This was all to astonish the disciples. This was all to lift the hearts and mind of the disciples up into heavenly places. This was all to unharden their heart, for all God wants is the human heart. And this would happen after the Holy Ghost descended upon the Upper Room church in Jerusalem at Pentecost and in the nine days leading to Pentecost. The Holy Ghost brought to their remembrance all that Christ had said and done, and especially the significance of what Christ had said and done. And this was so that their joy would be full: so full that their proclamation of the Gospel would be confident, strong, unwavering, and rooted in their experience, and their scripturally mediated experiential memory. That in recognizing the amazement of the disciples, the Church would be drawn into this amazement, drawn into this astonishment, drawn into the fullness of the Gospel.
The key to it all is this: the joy of the Gospel is recognizing Christâs presence. And let it be known the ways Christ is present here among us, at this moment. Number 1: Christ is present among the Baptized, for in being baptized, our bodies become temples of the Holy Spirit that we are able to abide in Christâs word, which Our Lord said is the condition of Christ dwelling in us, with the Father. Number 2: Christ is present in the proclamation of Scripture. At the end of each reading is said âThe Word of the Lord,â or âThe Gospel of the Lord.â Christ is the Word, Christ is the Gospel. Number 3: Christ is present through the Bishop, Priest, and/or Deacon present in the Mass, as a grace of the Sacrament of Holy Orders. Number 4: Christ is present in the Tabernacle, in which the Blessed Sacrament is kept. Number 5: Christ is present in the Eucharist, because the bread and wine change into Christâs most precious Body and Bloodâwhy? because Jesus said so: sacramentally, really, and actually.
Knowing how Christ is present during the Liturgy, let our joy be that of Mary and Elisabeth at the Visitation; let our joy be that of Simeon and Anna in the Temple; let our joy be that of S. John the Baptist; let our joy be that of Peter, James and John at the Transfiguration; let our joy be that of the Upper Room Church at the Resurrection, at the Ascension, and at Pentecost. Let our joy be that of the three thousand souls baptized at Pentecost. Let our joy be that of the Saints, the heavenly company of Saint with whom we are one through Christ. For our Joy is Christ, present among us, present in us: He Who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost; ever one God, world without end. Amen.
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Evenings With Bede is a homily podcast. The episodes are taken from the Sunday solemn Plainsong Evensong services of Saint Paulâs, New Smyrna Beach, Fla., where I am Rector.
SEASON TWO is devoted to understanding the Song of Songs with the Venerable S. Bede as teacher, and yours truly as interpreter. We will go verse by verse through the entirety of the Song of Songs.
The format is a short passage from the Song of Songs, then comes commentary from the Bede, and finally an interpretive homily by yours truly expounding upon both. The audio for all three is found above. The text of the two passages is found below.
A Lesson from the Song of Songs, 1.5
I am black but beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem. Like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. Do not think to consider me, for I am swarthy because the sun has discolored me. My motherâs children have fought against me and made me keeper of the vineyards; my own vineyard I have not kept. Show me, You Whom my soul loves, where You pasture your flock, where You lie down at midday; lest I begin to wander after the flocks of Your companions.
A Lesson from a Treatise by the Venerable S. Bede
The Bride then says, âDo not think to consider me, for I am swarthy because the sun has discolored me,â which is to say openly, âO daughters of Jerusalem (that is, souls devoted to God), do not think that I who am despised should be admired by people, because the fiery trials that I do not hesitate to endure for the sake of my internal beauty have rendered me dark on the outside; nevertheless, heavenly grace has granted that I should be lovely on the inside.â This is similar to that saying of the apostle S. Peter: âDearly beloved, do not think to marvel at the fiery heat which has come upon you to test you, as though some unusual thing were happening to you, but rejoice that you are sharing Christâs sufferingsâ (1 Pet 4.12-13). And surely the Lord Himself is at times signified by the word âsun,â as it is said of His Ascension: âThe sun arose, and the moon stood still in its orderâ (Hab 3.10-11), and at times His elect, as He Himself says, âThe righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Fatherâ (Mt 13.43). But in this place the heat of tribulations is more fittingly represented by the word âsun,â in accordance with what He Himself says concerning the seeds sown on rocky ground: âBut when the sun rose they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered awayâ (Mt 13.6), which He afterward explains in this way: âAnd when tribulation and persecution arise on account of the Word, that person is immediately tempted into evilâ (Mt 13.21), clearly declaring that tribulation and persecution are represented by the word âsun.â Therefore, just as those who remain quietly in the house often after fairer limbs, but the members of those who are employed in this vineyard or garden or in any other kind of outdoor work are very frequently darkened by the sun, so also the more earnestly holy Church prepares herself for spiritual combat, the more hotly inflamed are the assaults that the ancient enemy resolves to mount against her. And as often as âsinners are praised in the desires of their soul and evildoers are blessedâ (Ps 10.3), just as frequently are they reproached by the righteous in the virtues of their own soul, and those who do right are reviled, as S. Paul testifies when he says: âWe are reviled, and we bless; we suffer persecution, and we bear it; we are blasphemed, and we entreatâ (1 Cor 4.12-13). But he teaches that the faithful ought to disregard the darkening caused by this blasphemy, or rather they ought to rejoice in it on account of what the Lord came forth saying: âBlessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and speak all that is evil against youâ (Mt 5.11), and so forth.
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Our reflections during this liturgical season have gotten to a certain realization, and it is this: The joy of the Gospel is recognizing Christâs presence. It was for Mary and Elisabeth at the Visitation as we have seen this liturgical season. It was for Simeon and Anna at the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. It was for S. John Baptist and other disciples at the beginning of S. Johnâs Gospel account. It was for the disciples upon Our Lordâs Resurrection. It was for the apostles in the Upper Room after the Ascension and at Pentecost. It was for the three thousand on Pentecost who were baptized. It has been for Christians ever since. The joy of the Gospel is recognizing Christâs presence.
With this fact in mind, one can notice that a particular detail in Saint Markâs Gospel account today stands out like an out of tune instrument in a symphony orchestra. It is in the part of Markâs account in which he writes, âAs Jesus went ashore He saw a great throng, and He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things. And when it grew late, His disciples came to Him and said, âThis is a lonely place.â And that is the important detail: that the disciples thought the place was lonely.
Whether the great throng of five thousand people thought it was a lonely place, we do not know. Mark does not tell us; he only tells us the feeling of the disciples, how they interpreted this moment. Keep in mind that nearly all of the disciples at this point in their relationship with Jesus are not accurate interpreters. Nearly all of the disciples did not at this point understand Who Jesus really is, that He was both truly God and truly Manânearly all of them, the only exceptions being Blessed Mary, the Mother of Jesus, perhaps a small group of other Holy Women, perhaps Saint John the Evangelist. But that is really it, and it is a small group, maybe half a dozen among seventy. Surely Jesus was to them a remarkable man, an especially holy man; He was to them a kind of miracle-worker, a prophet of God, perhaps the most powerful one ever; He was to them an uniquely charismatic, Spirit-filled preacher and teacher; and they saw in Him a presence unlike they had ever known, or even heard of in Jewish tradition.
But, and this is the key point, they did not at this point understand Who Jesus really is: did not recognize that He is the heavenly Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world, as Saint John the Baptist proclaims in the first chapter of Saint Johnâs Gospel. Over time, they certainly came to see Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world; they certainly came to see Jesus as the Son of God, the Eternal Word of the Father; they certainly came to see the divinity of Jesus which was previewed for three of them at the Transfiguration. But at this point, most of the Seventy did not have eyes to see and ears to hear. When we see Jesus as merely a man, and not divine, we will not experience the joy of the Gospel. The joy comes in recognizing that this man, Jesus, is our Lord and our God.
For the disciples in S. Markâs account, their feeling of loneliness is almost comical, because they said this immediately after Jesus spent some time teaching the large throng; after He had compassion on them, which means pouring upon them His mercy through His teaching, His presence, His radiating sense of peace. He multiplied the loaves and the fishes, after all! This is almost comical because how could this place be lonely if God was present and active amongst them? How could anyone feel lonely in the presence of He Whose nature is love? How could anyone feel lonely if they were aware that He through Whom all is made was so close, and so loving in His presence?
Therefore the feeding of the five thousand is not an action by Jesus for the immediate benefit of the five thousand. Rather, it is an action by Jesus to immediately benefit the disciples, to teach them something they would not learn until after Christâs resurrection: after that, they would remember this moment, the feeding miracle. They would have eyes to see how transformative and miraculous is the presence of Jesus to those with faith and who know how they are fed the heavenly food of angels. And Jesus did this so that, in remembering this moment, their remembering would transform their hearts that they would come to know that they are to bring the very same peace, the very same compassion, the very same loving presence that feeds the world with the Holy Spirit that the world feels poured upon with transforming love as the Church did at Pentecost. As the disciples took up the baskets of broken pieces of bread and fish, they came to realizeânot immediately, but after the Cross and after Pentecostâthat in picking up the bread they were gathering the presence of Jesus. In other words, they came to realize that no place is ever lonely unless Christâs identity is forgotten. We must always remember Jesus Christ is both God and man. Christ is present here, how can we not be joyful. Among us, my brothers and sisters, is Christ, the Bridegroom, the King of Creation: the very Savior Who is the Son of God Almighty, Who with Him and the Holy Ghost lives and reigns, ever one God: world without end. Amen.
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Evenings With Bede are taken from the Sunday solemn Plainsong Evensong services of Saint Paulâs, New Smyrna Beach, Fla., where I am Rector.
SEASON TWO is devoted to understanding the Song of Songs with Bede as teacher, and yours truly as interpreter. We will go verse by verse through the entirety of the Song of Songs.
The format is a short passage from the Song of Songs, then comes commentary from the Bede, and finally an interpretive homily by yours truly expounding upon both. The audio for all three is found above. The text of the two passages is found below.
A Lesson from the Song of Songs, 1.5
I am black but beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem. Like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. Do not think to consider me, for I am swarthy because the sun has discolored me. My motherâs children have fought against me and made me keeper of the vineyards; my own vineyard I have not kept. Show me, You Whom my soul loves, where You pasture your flock, where You lie down at midday; lest I begin to wander after the flocks of Your companions.
A Lesson from a Treatise by the Venerable S. Bede
After the Bride says, âI am black but beautiful,â she then goes on to say, âLike the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.â Kedar was the son of Ishmael, of whom it was said: âHis hand will be against everyone, and everyoneâs hand against himâ (Gen 16.12). The truth of this prediction concerning him is proved by the fact that the nation of the Saracens who are descended from him is today hated by everyone, and it is also affirmed by the Psalmist besieged by vexations when he says: âWith those who hate peace I am peaceableâ (Ps 120). For we do not read that David endured any animosity from the Ishmaelites, but wishing to exaggerate the evils he was suffering from Saul or from his other adversaries, he complained that he was being harassed by the degradations of that nation that never took the trouble to be at peace with anyone at all. And contrary to them is Solomon, who was peaceable both in his name and in his life. According, as Scripture bears witness: âAll the kings of the earth desired to see the face of Solomon, that they might bear the wisdom that God had put into his heartâ (2 Chron 9.23). Therefore she says, âI am black but beautiful, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon,â in such a way as to distinguish between being black like the tents of Kedar, and being beautiful like the curtains of Solomon. For just as holy Church is quite often rendered dark by the torments of unbelievers, as if she were the whole worldâs common enemy, in fulfillment of the word that the Lord speaks to her: âAnd you will be hated by all because of My Nameâ (Mt 10.22), just so is she always fair in the sight of her Redeemer as if she were truly worthy, whom the King of peace Himself deigns to look after. And we should note that Kedar, who by his very name already signifies âdarkness,â designates either evil persons or unclean spirits, just as Solomon also, who is understood as being âpeaceableâ even by the mystery of his name, indicates him of Whom it was written: âHis authority shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end of peace upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdomâ (Is 9.7). And when the Church is said to be black like the tents of Kedar, this is asserted not as if it were really so, but according to the opinion of those fools who images that she furnishes in herself a dwelling place for vices and for evil spirits, but when she is called beautiful like the curtains of Solomon, this is asserted as if it really is the case, because just as Solomon was accustomed to make tents for himself out of the skins of dead animals, in the same way the Lord gathers the church together to himself from those souls who have learned to renounce carnal desires. Therefore He said to all: âIf any want to come after Me, let them deny themselves and take up their Cross and follow Meâ (Mt 16.24); and the Apostle Paul says, âPut to death your earthly membersâ (Col 3.5). Certain persons who read this verse as âI am black and beautifulâ say that in her carnal and false members the Church is black like the tents of Kedar, but in those who are spiritual she is beautiful like the curtains of Solomon. But if we attend to what is written concerning the Lord: âWe have seen Him, and He had no form nor comelinessâ (Is 53.2), which was not said concerning His sin (for He had no sin at all), but of His suffering, surely it is obvious that the Church also is said to be black not on account of sins or the defects of sinners, but on account of her own trials and sufferings, with which she is continually vexed.
If you find this edifying, please consider (if you havenât already) becoming a paid subscriber. Your support goes directly to supporting the ministry of Akenside Institute for English Spirituality, a project I started 12 years ago.
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Reflecting again this week on the episode of the Holy Visitation of Blessed Mary, Mother of God to Saint Elisabeth, as depicted in our icon, and in the light of our readings from Scripture, I am struck by the trust in God that Mary and Elisabeth felt as they met together. And why wouldnât they trust God? God did what He said He would: He had made good on His promises. Both Mary and Elisabeth were pregnant, just as God had promised through the Archangel Gabriel. John the Baptist had leapt in the womb of Elisabeth, showing Him to be full of the Holy Spirit at Maryâs greeting which made the presence of Christ known to them, just as God relayed as well through Gabriel. Elisabeth herself felt full of the Holy Spirit, and recognized her kinswoman Mary as the Mother of God, and praised her belief and expressed her confidence that all that was told Mary from the Lord would be fulfilled. And Maryâs song, the Magnificat, expresses her trust in God as well, and does so strongly: âMy soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior,â and also âHe Who is mighty has done great things for me.â Really every verse of the Magnificat expresses Maryâs trust in God, her trust in her Son our Savior, Jesus. Undoubtedly Elisabeth also trust what Gabriel foretold of her sonâs adult ministry, that John âwill turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.â And although Elisabeth did not live to see the day, that is precisely what John the Baptist did; what God said would happen, did.
We can see that the joy of the Gospel shared by these two Saints, these two Holy Mothers (and shown by them to us) stems from their trust in God. And we can see that their joyful hearts feed their trust in Christ. In Christianity, demonstrated by the Saints Mary and Elisabeth, trust and joy go hand in hand.
Another Saints, Saint Paul, teaches us about trust today in the Epistle, from beginning to end. The Father, he says, has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Therefore let us trust Him. The Father has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Therefore let us trust Him. The Father has destined us in love to be His Sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will. He made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of His will. Therefore let us trust Him. And in Him, Paul says, we who have heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, and have believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. This is what Elisabeth and Mary heard, this is what we have heard through the Sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist, with Scripture opened by the Holy Spirit. Therefore let us, with Mary and Elisabeth and Paul, trust Him through the Holy Spirit, Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of our full salvation.
Likewise more Saints, the Twelve, were sent out two by two, with authority from Christ over the unclean spirits: see how our Lord Jesus bestowed upon them blessings of the heavenly places which built them up through trust in Christ. They took nothing for their journey except a covering of clothing and sandals. They pronounced peace upon those they met. The proclaimed that the Kingdom of Godâthe Holy Ghostâhad come near. And the preached repentance, meaning that there is now available through the Holy Ghost a new way of seeing (which is what repentance, in the Greek metanoia, means at its root: to see differently, and by seeing differently, thinking and acting differently). Through Christ working in them, they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them. As Mary spread the joy of the Gospel to Elisabeth and John and Zechariah by traveling about 100 miles to bring to them the presence of Christ and the power of the Holy Ghost operating in her, so the disciples were to imitate Mary and travel to souls in need of saving (in need of spiritual health) and share the Gospel and bring healing to many souls.
Therefore let us with Mary and Elisabeth and Paul and the Twelve, indeed with all the Saints, the whole Company of Heaven: let us trust Him Who sends us out into the world to love and serve the world, to bless the world with the blessings we have received. Let us understand that we can love; let us love that we can understand. The Lord is high and to be feared; He is the great king upon all the earth. By His grace we can perceive and know what things we ought to do; and by Him we may have the grace and power faithfully to fulfill the same. Having heard the word of truth, let us share it! Having received the Bread of heaven, let us be it for the world, that by our peace they are fed with the peace which passes all understanding, yet which fills the soul with mercy and truth. Because of our trust in God, let us always seek to accomplish the purpose God the Father set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things, all people, in Him Who is Way, the Truth and the Life, and Who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
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Evenings With Bede are taken from the Sunday solemn Plainsong Evensong services of Saint Paulâs, New Smyrna Beach, Fla., where I am Rector.
SEASON TWO is devoted to understanding the Song of Songs with Bede as teacher, and yours truly as interpreter. We will go verse by verse through the entirety of the Song of Songs.
The format is a short passage from the Song of Songs, then comes commentary from the Bede, and finally an interpretive homily by yours truly expounding upon both. The audio for all three is found above. The text of the two passages is found below.
A Lesson from the Song of Songs, 1.5
I am black but beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem. Like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. Do not think to consider me, for I am swarthy because the sun has discolored me. My motherâs children have fought against me and made me keeper of the vineyards; my own vineyard I have not kept. Show me, You whom my soul loves, where You pasture your flock, where You lie down at midday; lest I begin to wander after the flocks of Your companions.
A Lesson from a Treatise by the Venerable S. Bede
After Holy Church has been led into Christâs chambers through the knowledge and hope of celestial blessings, after she has learned to love Him with a righteous heart and to rejoice and exult in His grace alone, it remains to be shown what struggles she endures for the sake of that same love of Him, and what afflictions she bears for the sake of acquiring the blessings which she has tasted. There follows: âI am black but beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem.â She is undoubtedly âblackâ with respect to the misfortune of her afflictions, but âbeautifulâ in the comeliness of her virtues; or, rather, in the sight of the Judge Who sees within she is all the more beautiful the more often she is harassed and, as it were, disfigured by the afflictions of fools. Now she calls the souls to whom she is speaking âdaughters of Jerusalemâ because they have been initiated into the heavenly mysteries and are longing for their dwelling place in the heavenly homeland. For in order to console them in their tribulations the holy mother says, âI am black but beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem,â as if she were saying opening, âI do indeed appear exceedingly vile in the eyes of my persecutors, but before God I am shining brightly with a glorious confession of the truth, for which reason you ought to be less sorrowful amid the labors of this exile in which you remember that you are citizens of a heavenly homeland, and in which you hasten through the adversities of a collapsing world toward the vision of eternal peace.â
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Among the many things that can be said about the Visitation of Blessed Mary, Mother of God (Theotokos) to Saint Elisabeth is that it was an act of love. I mean by Mary. She made a many-day journey to the hill country, to share the joy of the Gospel with her relatives, both Saint Elisabeth and Saint Zechariah. And among what is startling about this moment is that Saint Luke does not share with us what Mary said. He relates that she greeted Elisabeth, but he does not relate what the specific greeting was. But we know the effect of her greeting: her greeting caused Saint John to leap in the womb of Elisabeth, and caused Elisabeth to be filled with the Holy Ghost. And so from Maryâs act of love, both John and Elisabeth were fill with the joy of the Gospel, which had already filled Mary. But because Luke leaves out her greeting, it is the act of love itself yield this joy, and yields the understanding by Elisabeth and John that their Saviour is present. It is Maryâs presence that sings and speaks praises of Christ.
In fact this is reflected in our Collect in the words âO God, Who hast taught us to keep all Thy commandments by loving Thee and our neighbor.â In this we see the doctrine of the Church: that knowledge and love are all the sameâthat, for Christians, love itself is understanding (William of St Thierry, Exposition on the Song of Songs, 57.) To give love shows understanding, to receive love also shows understanding. This is why it is ancient doctrine of the Church Fathers that in the Liturgy, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, we become what we have receivedâwe have received the Sacrament of Eucharist, and so we become sacrament, dismissed at the conclusion of Mass and sent into the world to bless the Lord that in doing so we bless othersâkept in Godâs peace, that we become Godâs peace for those in the world we encounter.
And yet, just because we are sent to be sacraments of peace and joy, sacraments of the Gospel for the world, sent to imitate Mary and proclaim the Gospel by our presence and words, does not mean the world will necessarily receive us in that way. We see this in Ezekiel, chapter 2, and recapitulated by Jesus when He returned to His own country and His own kin in the sixth chapter of Saint Mark. Ezekiel, entered into by the Spirit, was set on his feet by the Spirit. (This foreshadows how God entered Mary). Ezekiel was sent to preach about God to a people that had transgressed against Him. âThus says the Lord Godâ is a prophecy of judgment against infidelity to God, uttered by the Holy Ghost through those filled by the Holy Ghostâspoken through people chosen by God, because God chooses to work through people to make His will known. There are hints in the text that Ezekielâs prophetic status was in doubtâtwice saying âwhether they hear or refuse to hear.â The people, these rebellious souls who oppose God, would not refuse to hear if they recognized the prophetic utterances as God speaking through Ezekiel, indeed, recognizing him as a sacramental presence. But they cannot do so. They are unable.
Likewise the kin-folk of Jesus are unable. They cannot see Him, who is the icon of the invisible God the Father, as Himself the true sacrament of Godâs presence. They see Him as something unusual, spectacular, perhaps magical. They see him as people today might see professional magicians who seem to accomplish astonishing mighty works. And yet, they miss the message. The deepest truth of the identity of Jesusâthat He is the primordial sacrament of Godâs presence, that He is God become man, the Eternal Word become flesh, that He dwells among usâwas lost on them, went right over their heads.
We are dismissed at the end of Mass to imitate Mary, to go confidently in the world to proclaim the Gospel with joy. The people around us in Volusia County might also miss the message of who we are, and what we mean to say. They might not see us as agents of peaceâagents of peace that passes all understanding, agents of Gospel Joy. Our identity as sacramental persons dismissed from the Mass to be the living bread for the worldâthat we do what Jesus told the disciples to do, to go to the people and give them something to eatâmight go over the heads of our brothers and sisters in the world we encounter. Is this what we would prefer? Surely not, because Jesus marveled because of His kinsfolk unbelief. Yet notice that despite being mocked, ignored, and misunderstood, Jesus was not deterred from His missionâHe laid His hands upon a few sick people, and healed them. Let us be emboldened by the example of our loving and most compassionate Lord Jesus: we do not need to reach the everyone in the world, we ourselves do not need to convert in large numbers within the town we live. We might prefer it, we might wish it, our pride might demand it. But to follow the example of Jesus, let us be pleased to receive even but a few.
Let us go with joy to the poor among us (whether materially, intellectually, or spiritually)âlaying our hands upon them by being with them, accompanying them, loving them. Let us, filled with the Holy Spirit, be for the poor living bread, that they are fed attention, fed with our compassionate presence, fed with the peace which passes all understanding. Let our joy which we receive here during the divine Liturgy â joy because we are fed and loved by Christ Himself present among us â let this joy be shared world, that through us, the Church, the world may know the Gospel, even Jesus Christ, Himself, Who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
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Evenings With Bede are taken from the Sunday solemn Plainsong Evensong services of Saint Paulâs, New Smyrna Beach, Fla., where I am Rector.
SEASON TWO is devoted to understanding the Song of Songs with Bede as teacher, and yours truly as interpreter. We will go verse by verse through the entirety of the Song of Songs.
The format is a short passage from the Song of Songs, then comes commentary from the Bede, and finally an interpretive homily by yours truly expounding upon both. The audio for all three is found above. The text of the two passages is found below.
A Lesson from the Song of Songs, 1.1
Let Him kiss me with the kiss of His mouth: for Your breasts are better than wine, the glowing ardor of the best ointments. Your name is oil poured out: therefore the young maidens have loved You. Draw me: we will run after You. The King has brought me into His chambers: we will exult and rejoice in You, remembering Your breasts more than wine: the righteous love You.
A Lesson from a Treatise by the Venerable S. Bede
The bride says that âThe King has brought me into His chambers.â The chambers of the eternal King are the inner joys of the heavenly homeland into which holy Church has now been brought through faith and will in the future be brought more fully in reality. Now the bride is speaking to the young maidensâthat is, the Church of Christ is saying to the faithful souls that are its own members recently reborn in Christ: âThe reason that I am praying to the Bridegroom that He might help us with His hand lest we should grow faint as we are running after Him is that I have already had a foretaste of the sweetness of the heavenly kingdom, I have already tasted and have seen that the Lord is sweet (Ps 34), I have already become acquainted with the good things which He has revealed to have been prepared for me in heaven.â Soon afterward, turning to Him Who has revealed these things to her, she hastens to give thanks to her King and Lord for His benefits, saying: âWe will exult and rejoice in You, remembering Your breasts more than wine,â which is to say openly, âWe will by no means extol ourselves for the gifts we have received, but in everything that we enjoy we exult, or rather, we always will exult and rejoice in Your mercy, remembering in every respect how much You have deigned to restore us with kindness, how you have deigned to temper the austerity of the law with the grace of evangelical faith.â Which leads the Bride to say, âThe righteous love You.â This is if to say, âThe reason that we will exult and rejoice not in ourselves but in You, remembering your gifts, is that all those who are righteous in heart have learned that You are to be loved before all things and above all things, and that they could never become righteous if they put any love before You, from Whom alone they have every good thing they posses.â And we should consider what she says further above: âThe young maidens love You,â but now she says, âThe righteous love You.â These two verses should be put together, because she spoke of no other youthfulness than uprightness of heart, since those who have put off the impurity of the old self have put on the ânew self which is created according to God in justice and holiness and truthâ (Eph 4:22-24). Again, âthe righteous love Youâ because none other can truly love the Lord unless they are righteous. For whoever will violate the rectitude of justice, whether by an action or a word or even a thought that is improper, in vain do they think that they love the Creator Whose admonitions they despise. âFor the love of God is this, that we keep His commandments,â as S. John the Evangelist bears witness (1 Jn 5:3).
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Attention to language is often something that people gently ridicule in others. When a person is regarded as paying too close attention to words and their meaning, they are said to be âsplitting hairs.â Or it is dismissed with âoh, thatâs just being semantic,â meaning, it is not necessary to pay such close attention to words: the meaning is about the same either way. Six, or one half dozen of the other, is something I grew up hearing, a lot. A person claiming âI did not yell at you, instead I spoke firmly with my voice raised,â might be demonstrating this. To which the other person might respond: yes, and thatâs splitting hairs, because you should not have done that. So sometimes, we use a strategy of being very attentive to language, perhaps overly so, as a way to protect or defend ourselves against the accusations of others, or to hide from our behavior we know was inappropriate, even unholy.
Attention to language with respect to Holy Scripture, on the other hand, is always demanded, always required. This is one reason why the famous Collect about the Holy Scriptures has taken a special place in Anglican spirituality, with its key line: âGrant us so to hear the Sacred Scriptures, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them.â To read and to mark, to learn and inwardly digest, means to be attentive to the words of a passage, even just one wordâattentive through prayer, through silence that allows us to hear how the words echo in our mind, in our memories, in our soul, echoing from God.
The perfect example of the importance of attention to language in Scripture is the Eucharist. Of the bread and wine, Jesus said âTake, eat,â and âTake, drink,âââDo this for the remembrance of e.â The word âremembranceâ demands deep attention. Superficial attention might lead us to understand this word meaning a bare recollection of the past, like when we filled our car with gas and what we overpaid; and the bread and wine are mere reminding symbols of that simple memory. But closer attention to the word âremembranceâ in the biblical Greek reveals something else entirely. âRemembranceâ translates the Greek word âanamnesis,â which means âactually-making-present-again.â Therefore Jesus did not say, âEat and drink as a symbol of me that you recollect.â Rather he commanded us to âEat and drink for the actually-making-present-again of Me.â The ancient and catholic doctrine of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist derives from close attention to the actual word Jesus Himself used, and our devotion unfolds from that doctrine. And thus attention to language gives us Gospel Joy, our heart joyful through our assurance that the consecrated bread and wine are truly the precious Body and Blood of Jesus.
Close attention to language opens up a key moment in our Gospel passage today from S. Mark. Jairus, the leader, had come to Jesus and said, âMy little daughter is at the point of death.â To him, Jesus says, âDo not fear, only believe.â In part Jesus said this because Jewish beliefs at the time maintained that bodies at the time of death rendered anyone who touched it ritually unclean and therefore shunned from the worshiping community. People were scared of the bodies of the dead as well as almost dead. For Jesus to say, âDo not fear, only believe,â relieves the fear Jairus has.
The key moment is when Jesus addresses the dying girl by saying, âLittle girl, I say to you, arise.â This is embedded in the Aramaic phrase âTalâČitha cuâČmi.â The word here for âariseâ is the same word Mark uses to describe the healing of Peterâs mother-in-law in chapter 1, the healing of the paralytic in chapter 2, and, most importantly, in the resurrection of Jesus in chapter 16. Mark wants to teach us something important. Christâs presence heals. Healing therefore is an important aspect of Christâs Resurrection. Put the other way round, the Resurrection of Jesus heals us. His resurrection heals our brokenness, our disordered body, mind, and soul.
That His resurrection heals us is what it means to receive salvation and to be saved: both mean healing and health. And because we experience the Resurrection primarily through the Eucharist, Jesus gave us the Eucharist to heal us, because His presence heals. Without the Resurrected Jesus, proclaimed through the Gospel, there is no health in us. To be saved is to begin the process of healing that begins in this life and continues into the next. True health is entering heaven. Hence the holy words of our liturgy before receiving Holy Communion, âspeak the word only, and my soul shall be healed.â Speak the word only, dear Lord, and my soul again is saved, is given health. To be saved is to be healthy: a joyful heart because of the Gospel.
It is important and necessary that we be spiritually healthy because as Christ spoke in Deuteronomy: âThe poor will never cease out of the land . . . therefore I command you, you shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in the land.â The poor around us here in Volusia County suffer from a variety of kinds of poverty: from material poverty, to the poverty of loneliness, to the poverty from lack of relationship with Jesus Christ. But Christ expects us to serve the poor in this place. Christ expects us to imitate Him as best we are able, who did not avoid but rather sought out those suffering poverty of all kinds, and gave them His healing presence. Christ made Himself sacrifice that we might be filled with His Body and Blood, that we can bring His healing presence to those in poverty among us Indeed, that by the grace of God acting through us, they too might arise. Because He is actually present again in a real and true way in Holy Communion, we are filled with the joyful knowledge of our salvation, our health, that like Mary to Elisabeth, and we can share with all that we meet, and especially the poor, the presence of Christ Himself, Who lives and reigns with the Father and Holy Ghost, ever one God, unto the ages of ages. Amen.
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I concluded my preaching last Sunday with these words: The key thing is this: what makes Christianity happen is gospel joy: it is the antidote to spiritual desolation, and through it we plant the seeds of good intentions in our heart, inward seeds to which God gives the growth. All that lays behind the teaching today from Saint Paul: that if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold the new has come. This teaching expresses Gospel joy, for by being in Christ through our baptism, and through keeping of the baptismal life through liturgy and works of sacrificial love, we are transformed (in Paulâs phrase, a new creation). The power of Christ is to transform us into the stature of Christâs image in which we are created. The mark of a Christian life, a life following Christ through the Holy Spirit, is being transformed, changed, remade. In the words of the Church Father S. Irenaeus of Lyon, Jesus Christ, in His infinite love, has become what we are, in order that He may make us entirely what He is. The promise of being made by Christ into entirely what He is gives us an inexhaustibly joyful heart.
Saint Paul furthermore teaches us today that the love of Christ controls us. And he says why: because we are convinced that one has died for all. In teaching us this today, Saint Paul gives us more food for our reflection on what it means to celebrate the joy of the Gospel. The love of Christ controls usâor, put another way, Christâs love is our control. Christâs love is our normâis the norm. Christâs love is the measuring stick by which we measure all of reality, and all of who are are, and how we conduct ourselves in the world. Christâs love is the pattern of being, the model of existence. The love of ChristâChristâs love, His outpouring of Himself, His own Sacrificeâcontrols us.
And His love controls us because of our confession that Christ has died for all. It is not only that we are convinced that Christ died; we are even more convinced that Christ died for all. He gave Himself up for all, for the sins of all, giving Himself up for all persons, on behalf of all persons. On the Cross Jesus held all the sins of humanity in His most holy Heart.
Sin means separation between us and God. By taking on Himself all our sins, He took upon Himself all separation that is between us and God. On the Cross and through the Cross, through His Passion, Crucifixion, and Death, Jesus held in His most Holy Heart our relationship with God, distorted by sin, and as He offered Himself up to the Father on our behalf, He offered up for us our relationship with God. And because Jesus is the perfect offering for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world, God accepted Christâs offering on our behalf, His vicarious offering of our relationship with God was accepted by God through Christ; and in accepting the offering of the Son, God took our distorted relationship with Him, transformed it, and gave it back to us, restored, transformed and made permanently holy through Christ. Just as God take the bread offered at the Altar into Himself, transforms it into His Sonâs Body and Blood, and gives it back to us transformed and holy, God takes our sinful relationship with Him into Himself through Jesus, and gives it back to us transformedâthat we might live no longer for ourselves but for Him who for our sake died and was raised.
When we live with the fact of Christâs offering of Himself for usâthis fact becomes what controls our life; this fact is another cause of a heart joyful in the Gospel. The love of Christ controls us, which is another way of saying that we have in remembrance Christâs blessed Passion and precious Death; His mighty Resurrection and glorious Ascension. When we live within the fact of Christâs love for usâan unfathomable love for usâwe are truly in Christ, and through Him we are a new creation. Living with and within the great mystery of this allâliving with it, recognizing it, reflecting upon it, making it a fundamental part of our daily thoughts: as we allow the love of Christ to control us, through the joy of the Gospel, we become by grace a new creation, because we live and move and have our being in Christ, Whom even wind and sea obey, and Who with the Father and the Holy Ghost is one God, unto the ages of ages. Amen.
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