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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240309
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UID:11645-1709942400-1710028799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:HE CAME TO CALL SINNERS \nFrom a letter by St Maximus the Confessor7 \n◊◊◊ \nGod’s will is to save us and nothing pleases him more than our coming \nback to him with true repentance. The heralds of truth and ministers of divine \ngrace have told us this from the beginning\, repeating it in every age. Indeed \nGod’s desire for our salvation is the primary and preeminent sign of his infinite \ngoodness\, and it was precisely in order to show that there is nothing closer to \nGod’s heart that the divine Word of God the Father\, with untold condescension\, \nlived among us in the flesh\, and that he did\, suffered\, and said all that was \nnecessary to reconcile us to God the Father when we were at enmity with him\, \nand to restore us to the life of blessedness from which we have been exiled. He \nhealed our physical infirmities by miracles; he freed us from our sins\, many and \ngrievous as they were\, by suffering and dying\, taking them upon himself as if he \nwere answerable for them\, sinless though he was. He also taught us in many \ndifferent ways that we should wish to imitate him by our own kindness and \ngenuine love for one another. \nThus he proclaimed that he had come to call sinners to repentance\, not \nthe righteous\, and that it was not the healthy who required a doctor\, but the \nsick. He declared that he had come to look for the sheep that was lost and that \nit was to the lost sheep of the house of Israel that he had been sent. Speaking \nmore obscurely in the parable of the silver coin\, he tells us that the purpose of \nhis coming was to reclaim the royal image\, which had been coated with the filth \nof sin. You can be sure that there is joy in heaven\, he said\, over one sinner who \nrepents. \nTo the same lesson he revived the man who\, having fallen into the hands \nof brigands\, had been left stripped and half-dead from his wounds; he poured \nwine and oil on the wounds\, bandaged them\, placed the man on his own mule\, \nand brought him to an inn\, where he left sufficient money to have him cared for\, \nand promised to repay any further expense on his return. \nAgain\, he told of how the father\, who is goodness itself\, was moved with \npity for his profligate son who returned and made amends by repentance; how \nhe embraced him\, dressed him once more in the fine garments that befitted his \nown dignity\, and did not reproach him for any of his sins. \nThen there was the time when one of the hundred sheep in God’s flock \nwent astray. When he found it wandering in the mountains and hills he did not \nexhaust it by driving it back to the fold\, but placed it on his own shoulders\, and \nso in his compassion restored it safely to the flock. \nHis teaching was the same when he cried out: “Come to me\, all you that \ntoil and are heavy of heart.” “Accept my yoke\,” he said\, by which he meant his \ncommands\, or rather the whole way of life that he taught us in the Gospel. He \nthen speaks of a burden\, but that is only because repentance seems difficult. In \nfact\, however\, “my yoke is easy\,” he assures us\, “and my burden is light.” \nThen again he instructs us in divine justice and goodness\, telling us to be \nlike our heavenly Father\, holy\, perfect and merciful. Forgive\, he says\, and you \nwill be forgiven. Treat other people as you would wish them to treat you. \n  \n7 A Word in Season – Monastic Lectionary – vol. II – Lent – Exordium Books – 1982 – pg. 14.15 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-168/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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