“Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” -1 Chronicles 16:34
Today our country celebrates the holiday of Thanksgiving. Its origins lie in the early Christian settlers coming to this continent hundreds of years ago. We portrayed it every year in elementary school by dressing up as Pilgrims and Indians so that the story would always be fixed in our heads. We should take this holiday as an opportunity for thanking God for all that He has done.
In Church, for any liturgical gathering, we always begin with the Thanksgiving Prayer which starts off with, “Let us give thanks to the Beneficent and Merciful God.” And why is it that we give thanks to the Lord, because He has “covered us, helped us, guarded us, accepted us unto Him, spared us, supported us, and brought us to this hour.” But we are supposed to also thank Him, “for every condition, concerning every condition, and in every condition” for these very same reasons and we must always remember that He gave us our life, both physical and spiritual, the greatest gift. So why is it that because of one or two things we shouldn’t thank him for the rest of the innumerable things he has done for us. We should thank Him for everything and every condition.
Thanksgiving glorifies God and causes us to come closer to Him. In this sense it is also a witness to God, because when people see that we actually live by what we preach it receives much more magnification and realization than just preaching principles. Thanksgiving should therefore also be an act of love. It should be a very high expression of that love, showing God that we appreciate what He is doing and that we are humbled by these experiences. As it is written that if it, “have not love, it profits me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:3). Love is “that which is perfect” (1 Corinthians 13:10), and we must never forget that.
The Greek word for thanksgiving as used in the Bible is “eucharistos.” This then points us back to the Eucharist. The Eucharist is called so because before Jesus broke the bread and gave it to His disciples as His Body and gave them the cup of wine as His Blood giving the New Covenant, it says He gave thanks. Jesus giving Himself for us on the Cross and the Sacrament is our ultimate Thanksgiving that He has been merciful to us in His goodness as to give us eternal life and fellowship with Him, which is why in the Church’s hymns we say the verse, “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever” (1 Chronicles 16:34) so often.
So let us be like St. Paul and say with such conviction, “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15)
Happy Thanksgiving and Glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
St. Ignatius of Antioch
“Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them. And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them, “Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.” -Mark 9:36-37
St. Ignatius of Antioch is one of the earliest Church Fathers that we have, having been born around 30 A.D. and martyred 107 A.D. There is a tradition that says that when Jesus was talking about the toddlers and they were coming to him, that St. Ignatius was one of them.
He was ordained as Bishop of Antioch by St. Peter the Apostle and he was very zealous for the Lord. This led him to be called Theophorus (God-Bearer).
He was arrested by the Romans because of his faith and was led to Rome to be martyred. On his way to Rome he stopped in Smyrna and strengthened the Christians there. He also wrote seven epistles, several of them from Smyrna and a couple from Troas. These sevens letters are the letters to the churches of Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, Rome, Philadelphia, Smyrna, and to Polycarp Bishop of Smyrna. These letters were treasured as soon as they were written because St. Polycarp himself started collecting them right after they were written. These letters are still available in their original Greek today and have been translated into English.
St. Ignatius wanted to be martyred to the degree that he wrote to the Roman Christians in advance not to do anything to prevent it. He finally arrived in Rome after passing through Asia Minor and met with the Christians there. He was led into the arena, probably the Colosseum, and thrown to the lions who ripped him up and made his martyrdom complete. After he was martyred, he appeared to many Roman Christians to comfort them.
He is one of the Apostolic Fathers, which are the earliest group of Christians writing after the New Testament. His seven letters are included and are very deep for spiritual instruction. I have included a few of his sayings below for your benefit.
“Love is the way leading up to God.” -Epistle to the Ephesians 9
“It is fitting, then, not only to be called Christians, but to be Christians.” –Epistle to the Magnesians 4
“Study, therefore, to be established in the precepts of the Lord and the apostles that so all things, whatsoever you do, may prosper both in the flesh and spirit; in faith and love; in the Son and the Father, and in the Spirit.” –Epistle to the Magnesians 13
“Do not be deceived, my brethren. If any man follows him that makes a schism in the Church, he shall not inherit the kingdom of God. If anyone walks according to a strange opinion, he agrees not with the passion.” -Epistle to the Philadelphians 3
“I endure everything because He Himself, who is the perfect Human, strengthens me.” –Epistle to the Smyrnaeans 4
“Let not a high place puff anyone up: for that which is worth all is faith and love, to which nothing is to be preferred.” –Epistle to the Smyrnaeans 6
“Flee from divisions as the beginning of evils.” –Epistle to the Smyrnaeans 8
“Stand firm, as does an anvil which is beaten. It is the part of a noble athlete to be wounded, and yet to conquer.” –Epistle to Polycarp 3
St. Ignatius of Antioch is one of the earliest Church Fathers that we have, having been born around 30 A.D. and martyred 107 A.D. There is a tradition that says that when Jesus was talking about the toddlers and they were coming to him, that St. Ignatius was one of them.
He was ordained as Bishop of Antioch by St. Peter the Apostle and he was very zealous for the Lord. This led him to be called Theophorus (God-Bearer).
He was arrested by the Romans because of his faith and was led to Rome to be martyred. On his way to Rome he stopped in Smyrna and strengthened the Christians there. He also wrote seven epistles, several of them from Smyrna and a couple from Troas. These sevens letters are the letters to the churches of Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, Rome, Philadelphia, Smyrna, and to Polycarp Bishop of Smyrna. These letters were treasured as soon as they were written because St. Polycarp himself started collecting them right after they were written. These letters are still available in their original Greek today and have been translated into English.
St. Ignatius wanted to be martyred to the degree that he wrote to the Roman Christians in advance not to do anything to prevent it. He finally arrived in Rome after passing through Asia Minor and met with the Christians there. He was led into the arena, probably the Colosseum, and thrown to the lions who ripped him up and made his martyrdom complete. After he was martyred, he appeared to many Roman Christians to comfort them.
He is one of the Apostolic Fathers, which are the earliest group of Christians writing after the New Testament. His seven letters are included and are very deep for spiritual instruction. I have included a few of his sayings below for your benefit.
“Love is the way leading up to God.” -Epistle to the Ephesians 9
“It is fitting, then, not only to be called Christians, but to be Christians.” –Epistle to the Magnesians 4
“Study, therefore, to be established in the precepts of the Lord and the apostles that so all things, whatsoever you do, may prosper both in the flesh and spirit; in faith and love; in the Son and the Father, and in the Spirit.” –Epistle to the Magnesians 13
“Do not be deceived, my brethren. If any man follows him that makes a schism in the Church, he shall not inherit the kingdom of God. If anyone walks according to a strange opinion, he agrees not with the passion.” -Epistle to the Philadelphians 3
“I endure everything because He Himself, who is the perfect Human, strengthens me.” –Epistle to the Smyrnaeans 4
“Let not a high place puff anyone up: for that which is worth all is faith and love, to which nothing is to be preferred.” –Epistle to the Smyrnaeans 6
“Flee from divisions as the beginning of evils.” –Epistle to the Smyrnaeans 8
“Stand firm, as does an anvil which is beaten. It is the part of a noble athlete to be wounded, and yet to conquer.” –Epistle to Polycarp 3
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