Grant, Almighty God,
that the commemoration of our Lord's death and resurrection may continually
transform our lives and be manifested in our deeds; through Jesus Christ our
Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for
ever. Amen.
Our thoughts in
this present life should turn on the praise of God, because it is in praising
God that we shall rejoice for ever in the life to come; and no one can be ready
for the next life unless he trains himself for it now. So we praise God during
our earthly life, and at the same time we make our petitions to him. Our praise
is expressed with joy, our petitions with yearning. We have been promised
something we do not yet possess, and because the promise was made by one who
keeps his word, we trust him and are glad; but insofar as possession is
delayed, we can only long and yearn for it. It is good for us to persevere in
longing until we receive what was promised, and yearning is over; then praise
alone will remain.
Because there
are these two periods of time - the one that now is, beset with the trials and
troubles of this life, and the other yet to come, a life of everlasting
serenity and joy - we are given two liturgical seasons, one before Easter and
the other after. The season before Easter signifies the troubles in which we
live here and now, while the time after Easter which we are celebrating at
present signifies the happiness that will be ours in the future. What we
commemorate before Easter is what we experience in this life; what we celebrate
after Easter points to something we do not yet possess. This is why we keep the
first season with fasting and prayer; but now the fast is over and we devote
the present season to praise. Such is the meaning of the Alleluia we
sing.
Both these
periods are represented and demonstrated for us in Christ our head. The Lord’s
passion depicts for us our present life of trial - shows how we must suffer and
be afflicted and finally die. The Lord’s resurrection and glorification show us
the life that will be given to us in the future.
Now therefore,
brethren, we urge you to praise God. That is what we are all telling each other
when we say Alleluia. You say to your neighbor, “Praise the Lord!” and
he says the same to you. We are all urging one another to praise the Lord, and
all thereby doing what each of us urges the other to do. But see that your
praise comes from your whole being; in other words, see that you praise God not
with your lips and voices alone, but with your minds, your lives and all your
actions.
We are praising
God now, assembled as we are here in church; but when we go on our various ways
again, it seems as if we cease to praise God. But provided we do not cease to
live a good life, we shall always be praising God. You cease to praise God only
when you swerve from justice and from what is pleasing to God. If you never
turn aside from the good life, your tongue may be silent but your actions will
cry aloud, and God will perceive your intentions; for as our ears hear each
other’s voices, so do God’s ears hear our thoughts.
St. Augustine of Hippo, [430]
From Commentary on Psalm 148
The Collect for this Friday and this passage from St.
Augustine’s writings express with great clarity the truth that the Christian
praises God both outwardly in words and deeds, and inwardly in thoughts and
prayers. The Great 50 Days are marked liturgically with much use of the word
“Alleliua!” This ancient praise-shout commands hearers to “Praise God!” But, as
the General Thanksgiving tells us, we show forth God’s praise “not only with
our lips, but in our lives” by “giving up ourselves” to God’s service…something
that requires unanimity of the inner and outer self. That notion of continuity
and simplicity is especially lifted up for us today.
As we come to the end of Eastertide, the themes of the
season move ineluctably towards the active life of the Holy Spirit and the
constant communion of the Christian in God, even as God is revealed to be an
eternal communion of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This mutuality and intercommunion
is dynamic, lively. It is not static or monadic. St. Augustine writes that even
in the midst of our earthly journey, so fraught by trials and sins, we already
breathe the air of the Kingdom, taste of its food, and speak its language. All
of this results in a life in transformation, become what we breathe, eat, hear.
A real Christian faith is always growing, deepening, and reaching a greater
level of communion and simplicity.
Fridays in Eastertide do not include the discipline of
fasting as abstinence is dispensed with for this season. But Fridays are always the Day of the Cross,
regardless of the season. The Cross in Eastertide is glorious, but it also
reveals the costly love of Our Savior—and the costly love of disciples
responding to Him. Just as Christ Jesus was fastened to the Cross, forming a
unifying bond between his body of Love and this world’s need for that Love, so
must our discipleship accept with humility the necessity of a unified life,
where our outer praise and practice is evermore unified to our inner thoughts,
prayers, and desires. When these two things—our outer and inner selves—become
truly conformed to Christ, we will be free indeed.
Eastertide gives us a foretaste of that joy and unity. When
we come to Pentecost, the calendar points us to the place where the triumph
must be fashioned: the daily life of discipleship. That is the arena where our
laurels will be won, and where the power of the Cross will be known most dearly
to us, even as we show it forth to others by living as whole and faithful
Christians in private as well as in public. For the grace, strength, and courage to live in Christ this way, we turn to the Cross this (and every) Friday once more.
No comments:
Post a Comment