Vigils Reading – 23rd Sunday

CHRIST HAS DONE

ALL THINGS WELL

From a commentary by St Lawrence of Brandisi1

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Just as the divine law says that when God created the world, he saw all

that he had made and it was very good, so the gospel, speaking of our

redemption and re-creation, affirms: He has done all things well. A good tree

bears good fruit; no good tree can bear bad fruit. As fire can give out nothing

but heat and is incapable of giving out cold; and as the sun gives out nothing

but light and is incapable of giving out darkness, so God is incapable of doing

anything but good, for He is infinite goodness and light. He is a sun giving out

endless light, a fire producing endless warmth. He has done all things well.

And so today we must wholeheartedly unite with that holy throng in

saying: He has done all things well. He has made the deaf hear and the dumb

speak. Like Balaam’s ass. This crowd certainly spoke under the inspiration of

the Holy Spirit who said through its mouth: He has done all things well; in other

words, he is truly God, because making the deaf hear and the dumb speak are

things that only God can do. There is a transition here from the particular to the

general. This man has worked a miracle that only God could work; therefore, he

is God. Who has done all things well.

He has done all things well. The law says that all God did was good; the

gospel says that he has done all things well. Doing a good deed is not quite the

same as doing it well. Many do good deeds but fail to do them well. The deeds

of hypocrites, for example, are good, but they are done in the wrong spirit, with

a perverse and defective intention. Everything God does, however, is not only

good, but done well. The Lord is just in all his ways and holy in all his deeds.3

With wisdom you have done them all: that is to say, most wisely and well. So,

he has done all things well, they say.

Now if God has done all his good works and done them well for our sake,

knowing that we take pleasure in goodness, why I ask do we not endeavor to

make our works good and to do them well, knowing that such works are pleasing

to God?

If you ask what we should do in order to enjoy the divine blessings forever,

I will tell you in a word. Since the Church is called the bride of Christ and of

God, we must do what a good wife does for her husband. Then God will treat us

as a good husband treats a dearly loved wife. This is what the Lord says through

Hosea: I will betroth you to myself with justice and integrity, with tenderness

and compassion; I will betroth you to myself with faithfulness, and you shall

know that I am the Lord. So even in this present life we shall be happy, this

world will be an earthly paradise for us, with the Hebrews we shall feast on

heavenly manna in the desert of this life, if only we follow Christ’s example by

striving to do everything well, so that he has done all things well may be said of

each one of us.