Wednesday after Epiphany 1
A Reading from a treatise Against the Pagans by Athanasius of Alexandria
‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made.’ In these words John the theologian teaches that nothing exists or remains in being except in and through the Word.
Think of a musician tuning a lyre. By skill the musician adjusts high notes to low, and intermediate notes to the rest, and produces a series of harmonies. So too the wisdom of God holds the world like a lyre and joins things in the air to those on earth, and things in heaven to those in the air, and brings each part into harmony with the whole. By his decree and will he regulates them all to produce the beauty and harmony of a single, well-ordered universe. While remaining unchanged with his Father, he moves all creation by his unchanging nature, according to the Father’s will. To everything he gives existence and life in accordance with its nature, and so creates a wonderful and truly divine harmony.
To illustrate this profound mystery, let us take the example of a choir of many singers. A choir is composed of a variety of men, women and children, of both old and young. Under the direction of one conductor, each sings in the way that is natural: men with men’s voices, boys with boys’ voices, old people with old voices, young people with young voices. Yet all of them produce a single harmony. Or consider the example of our soul. It moves our senses according to their several functions so that in the presence of a single object they all act simultaneously: the eye sees, the ear hears, the hand touches, the nose smells, the tongue tastes, and often the other parts of the body act as well – as, for example, the feet may walk.
Although this is only a poor comparison, it gives some idea of how the whole universe is governed. The Word of God has but to give a gesture of command and everything falls into place; each creature performs its own proper function, and all together constitute one single harmonious order.
Thursday after Epiphany 1
A Reading from a treatise On the Lord’s Prayer by Cyprian of Carthage
The gospel precepts are none other than instructions of God, foundations on which hope is built, firm bases for faith, fuel to rekindle the heart, guides to point out the way, and aids to the attainment of salvation. They instruct the minds of the faithful on earth in order to lead them to the kingdom of heaven. The words which God willed to let us hear from the prophets are many, but of much greater value are the words uttered by the Son, those which the Word of God who dwelled within the prophets attests with his own voice. He no longer asks that the way be prepared for the One who comes, but he comes himself to show us the way and to open it for us. Thus, we who were once blind and lacking foresight, wandering in the shadow of death, can now be enlightened by the light of grace and walk along the paths of life under the Lord’s leadership and direction.
Among other saving instructions and divine teachings intended for the salvation of his people, the Lord gave us the form of prayer and urged us to pray as he has instructed us. He who gave us life also taught us how to pray with that same graciousness by which he has given and bestowed on us everything else. Thus, when we speak to the Father in the prayer that his Son has taught us, we are more readily heard.
Jesus had already announced that the hour would come when true worshippers would worship the Father in spirit and in truth and he accomplished what he promised. Having received the Spirit and the truth by his sanctifying action, we can now worship in spirit and in truth through the transmission of his teaching. Indeed, could there be a more spiritual prayer than the one left us by Christ who has also sent us his Spirit? Is there a truer way of praying to the Father than the one which has come from the lips of Christ who is Truth?
Let us pray, then, as God our Master has taught us. Affectionate and familiar is the prayer with which we implore God in the words of God, and reach his ear through the words of his Son. Let the Father recognise his Son’s words in us when we offer up our prayer; and let him who dwells in our heart be always on our lips.
Friday after Epiphany 1
A Reading from a commentary on St Paul’s Letter to the Romans
by Cyril of Alexandria
Though many, we are one body, and members one of another, united by Christ in the bonds of love. ‘Christ has made Jews and Gentiles one by breaking down the barrier that divided us, and abolishing the law with its precepts and decrees.’ This is why we should all be of one mind, and if one member suffers some misfortune, all should suffer alongside; and if one member is honoured, all should be glad.
Paul says: ‘Accept one another as Christ accepted you, for the glory of God.’ Now accepting one another means being willing to share one another’s thoughts and feelings, bearing one another’s burdens, and preserving the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. This is how God accepted us in Christ, for John’s testimony is true and he said that God the Father ‘loved the world so much that he gave his own Son for us’. God’s Son was given as a ransom for the lives of us all. He has delivered us from death, redeemed us from death and from sin.
Paul throws light on the purpose of God’s plan when he says that Christ became the servant of the circumcised to show God’s fidelity. God had promised the Jewish patriarchs that he would bless their offspring and make it as numerous as the stars of heaven. This is why the divine Word himself, who as God holds all creation in being and is the source of its well-being, appeared in the flesh and became human. He came into this world in human flesh not to be served, but, as he himself said, to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Christ declared that his coming in visible form was to fulfil the promise made to Israel. ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,’ he said. Paul was perfectly correct, then, in saying that Christ became a servant of the circumcised in order to fulfil the promise made to the patriarchs and that God the Father had charged him with this task, as also with the task of bringing salvation to the Gentiles, so that they too might praise their Saviour and Redeemer as the Creator of the universe. In this way God’s mercy has been extended to all, including the Gentiles, and it can be seen that the mystery of the divine wisdom contained in Christ has not failed in its benevolent purpose. In the place of those who fell away the whole world has been saved.
Saturday after Epiphany 1
A Reading from a commentary on the psalms
by Augustine
God could give no greater gift to us than to make his Word, through whom he created all things, our head and to join us to him as his members, so that the Word might be both Son of God and Son of Man, one God with the Father, and one human being with all humankind. The result is that when we speak with God in prayer we do not separate the Son from him, and when the body of the Son prays it does not separate its head from itself: it is the one Saviour of his body, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who prays for us and in us and is himself the object of our prayers.
He prays for us as our priest, he prays in us as our head, he is the object of our prayers as our God. Let us then recognise both our voice in his, and his voice in ours. When something is said, especially in prophecy, about the Lord Jesus Christ that seems to belong to a condition of lowliness unworthy of God, we must not hesitate to ascribe this condition to one who did not hesitate to unite himself with us. Every creature is his servant, for it was through him that every creature came to be.
We contemplate his glory and divinity when we listen to these words: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things