June 28 The Gospel breski1 Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 8,18-22. When Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side. A scribe approached and said …More
June 28 The Gospel breski1
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 8,18-22.
When Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side.
A scribe approached and said to him, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."
Jesus answered him, "Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head."
Another of (his) disciples said to him, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father."
But Jesus answered him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead."
Copyright © Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, USCCB
Origen (c.185-253)
priest and theologian
Homilies on Numbers, no.17 (SC 29, p.348) (©Catholic University of America press)
"Follow me"
Balaam prophesied: "How fair are your houses, O Jacob, your tents, O Israel," (Num 24:5). Here, Jacob represents those who are perfect in work and deed. Israel, however, stands for those who labor for wisdom and knowledge (…) They who have done all they should and come to perfection in their works, that very perfection will be called a "fair house". But for those who labor for wisdom and knowledge, there is no end to that task - for what could ever put a limit on God's wisdom? Indeed the more one enters into it, the deeper one goes, and the more one investigates, the more inexpressible and inconceivable it becomes, for God's wisdom is incomprehensible and immeasurable. Thus Balaam does not praise the houses of those who enter upon the path of wisdom - for they never come to an end -, but he admires their "tents" in which they continually wander and make progress (…) And true it is, when we make some progress in knowledge and gain some experience in such things, we know that when we have come to a certain insight and recognition of the spiritual mysteries, the soul rests there, in a certain sense, as in a "tent." But when it begins to make fresh sense again of what it finds there and moves on to other insights, it pushes on with folded tent, so to speak, to a higher place and sets itself up there (…) And so the soul seems always to be pulled on toward the goal that lies ahead (Phil 3,13), moving on, so to speak, in "tents." For once the soul has been struck by the fiery arrow of knowledge, it can never again sink into leisure and take its rest, but it will always be called onward from the good to the better and from the better to the higher.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 8,18-22.
When Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side.
A scribe approached and said to him, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."
Jesus answered him, "Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head."
Another of (his) disciples said to him, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father."
But Jesus answered him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead."
Copyright © Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, USCCB
Origen (c.185-253)
priest and theologian
Homilies on Numbers, no.17 (SC 29, p.348) (©Catholic University of America press)
"Follow me"
Balaam prophesied: "How fair are your houses, O Jacob, your tents, O Israel," (Num 24:5). Here, Jacob represents those who are perfect in work and deed. Israel, however, stands for those who labor for wisdom and knowledge (…) They who have done all they should and come to perfection in their works, that very perfection will be called a "fair house". But for those who labor for wisdom and knowledge, there is no end to that task - for what could ever put a limit on God's wisdom? Indeed the more one enters into it, the deeper one goes, and the more one investigates, the more inexpressible and inconceivable it becomes, for God's wisdom is incomprehensible and immeasurable. Thus Balaam does not praise the houses of those who enter upon the path of wisdom - for they never come to an end -, but he admires their "tents" in which they continually wander and make progress (…) And true it is, when we make some progress in knowledge and gain some experience in such things, we know that when we have come to a certain insight and recognition of the spiritual mysteries, the soul rests there, in a certain sense, as in a "tent." But when it begins to make fresh sense again of what it finds there and moves on to other insights, it pushes on with folded tent, so to speak, to a higher place and sets itself up there (…) And so the soul seems always to be pulled on toward the goal that lies ahead (Phil 3,13), moving on, so to speak, in "tents." For once the soul has been struck by the fiery arrow of knowledge, it can never again sink into leisure and take its rest, but it will always be called onward from the good to the better and from the better to the higher.