Archives by: Gary Hoag

“Inasmuch as [God’s] goodness is incomprehensible, is [reason] hidden in the inaccessible light in which You dwell (cf. 1 Timothy 6:16)? Truly, in the deepest and inmost seat of Your goodness is hidden a fount from which the stream of Your mercy flows. For although You are completely and supremely just, nevertheless because You are completely and supremely good You are also beneficent to those who are evil.

For You would be less good if You were beneficent to none of those who are evil. For someone who is good both to those who are good and to those who are evil is better than someone who is good only to those who are good. And someone who is good by virtue of both punishing and sparing those who are evil is better than someone who is good by virtue merely of punishing [them]. Therefore, You are merciful because You are completely and supremely good.”

Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109), a.k.a. Anselm of Aosta (his birthplace) or Anselm of Bec (his Benedictine Monastery). He served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093-1109. This excerpt comes from Proslogion, chapter nine (translated by Jasper Hopkins and Herbert Richardson).

Ever wonder why good things happen to people labeled as evil? Anselm did. In the later parts of the dark ages, theologians (Anselm included) wrestled with intersection of reason and reality. Here he comes to the realization that the “incomprehensible depths” of God’s goodness are perhaps best discerned by the fact that He is supremely good to both the good and the evil. In other words, because He so supremely good, that goodness exhibits perfect justice and mercy toward all.

What’s this have to do with generosity? Everything! God is good to everyone. He is kind and beneficent to those we might say are deserving and those commonly perceived as undeserving (that is, the good and the evil) to show that His perfect kindness comes not by merit but by mercy! This explains why He calls us to extend the same grace, mercy, kindness, and generosity to our brothers as we do to our enemies. Only when we do this, does our generosity become “Christian” generosity.

But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:27-36

“The most glorious of their works [that is, the works of the Church] is to show mercy, always offering generous help for every grief and distributing alms to the poor with a gentle heart while saying with their whole soul, “This is not my property, but that of Him Who created me.” And this work, inspired by God, is before His eyes in Heaven, when by the teaching of the Church it is done among the faithful on earth.”

Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) Benedictine abbess and Christian mystic, in Scivias 2.3.3 on “The Church is adorned by the priesthood and almsgiving.”

God does see the works of the faithful done on earth. A beautiful picture of this surfaces in Acts 10:4 with Cornelius. His prayers and merciful gifts to the poor were described as a memorial offering before God. What does God see from heaven when he looks at your life and mine?

Perhaps a good starting place for all of us is to resolve to share the view of possessions that Hildegard promoted in the dark ages in which she lived: “This is not my property, but that of Him Who created me.” That’s a critical first step toward offering generous help with a gentle heart.

Today’s meditation is admittedly long, but it’s absolutely amazing. Written by Hugh of Saint Victor (c. 1096-1141) a leading theologian who shined despite the darkness of the ages in which he lived. This “conversation” between “Reason” noted as “R” and the “Soul” noted as “S” comes from De Vanitate Mundi (Noah’s Ark: III, Book 1, Section 3).

When you read through it, picture yourself as the “Soul” conversing with God as “Reason”. I found this “conversation” while researching to prepare a sermon I am delivering in Korea next month on “The Rich Fool” in Luke 12:13-21. Hugh would say the rich man listened to his “Soul” (as the text notes) instead of “Reason” and we know what mess that got him in. What about you? Will you listen to Reason?

R. Turn yet again, and look at something else.

S. I have turned, and I am looking.

R. What do you see?

S. I see a rich man’s home.

R. What do you see there?

S. I see an abundance of everything, children growing up, efficient servants, fertile flocks, full barns, storehouses overflowing, health in life, peace in plenty, safety in peace, and happiness in safety.

R. How does it strike you?

S. I see no reason here for grief or fear, yet after the lesson of the previous cases I would not be so rash now as to say that anybody was secure of happiness. I should rather hear from you what I should think.

R. Do you then believe that such a man is happy?

S. I cannot see why not.

R. Which, then, makes a man the happier, to possess much, or to need little?

S. Needing little makes him happier than possessing much.

R. So it is a still happier condition to need little?

S. Clearly.

R. A man is to be reckoned happy, then, not when he possesses much, but when he does not need much.

S. Yet people say a man is happy if he has sufficient means to meet all demands. For they know from experience how depressed a man becomes, if in time of need he is restricted by lack of property.

R. Had you but compared the troubles of the rich with those of the poor, you would realize that the rich man is more unfortunate than the poor. For the more a rich man possesses, the more worry he has. And, above all, because he has to bear the burden of anxiety alone, that which he acquires so eagerly and hoards so carefully is of more benefit to other people than it is to himself. In the fever of his anxiety he tosses unceasingly. He fears the failure of his revenues, for, though his property is great, no less so are the forces at work to dissipate it. He fears the violence of the mighty, doubts the honesty of his own household, lives in perpetual fear of the deceptions of strangers, and, since he knows himself hated by everyone because of his possessions, he tries to avert this by a wretched and unhappy sort of struggle against everyone. And so it comes about that, in cutting himself off from the common fellowship of everyone by this depraved pursuit, he becomes hateful to all men, and a stranger to their love. Moreover, he knows quite well that, if his material prosperity should fail him, he will receive no kindly compassion from anybody else. The worry of his property never leaves him, but the enjoyment of it goes to other people to such an extent that he is often obliged to be generous to those from whom he cannot expect to receive respect, or thanks, or service. As long as he keeps it, they speak ill of him; when he gives it away, they mock him with empty adulation, though he is hurt no less by being laughed at than by being cursed. Always morose, always unhappy, always apprehensive, always weighed down by present cares and troubled by fears for the future, he cannot trust the good fortune that he has, but lives in constant fear of evils that may come. I ask you, then, what real comfort or pleasure can the body have, when the mind is beset with such strains and stresses ? What consolation will not be turned into an affliction for the body, when the spirit is wounded by such stings? This is the happiness of the rich man, which you, noticing only its false, superficial advantages, were disposed to extol, because you did not see the real unhappiness within.

S. If this is how things go with a rich man, he who desires great possessions is his own enemy.

“Do not allow yourself to be delayed by deceitful riches…Permit me to say that it would be repugnant and unjust to appropriate for your own use the possessions of which you are merely the administrator, not the owner. If the desire for honor and glory inclines you to live in style — and you cannot afford those expenses on what you possess — do you not in one way or another deprive some people of what you give to others? That is not an act of beneficence or of generosity. No act is charitable if it is not just.”

Bruno of Cologne (1030-1101) monk, founder of the Carthusian order, in “The Contemplative Life in Bruno’s Letters” 15.

Consider the meaning of the term “order” as it references a group of people in a world filled with “disorder” that resolve to follow a rule of life that reflects obedience to the teachings of Jesus. “Monks” were the members of the order, and in the dark ages, their monasteries were centers of learning and contemplation in a barbaric world.

Bruno’s order was known for administering God’s resources with generosity and justice. We learn this from the order’s reputation and also from Bruno’s letters. No one was permitted to live beyond their means, and no one was to act like an owner! The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Psalm 24:1

When we allow riches to “delay” us, we are deceived. When we act as owners instead of generous and just administrators of God’s material blessings, our behavior is repugnant! No act is charitable (that is, reflects charis, or God’s grace) if it is not extended to all justly (for that is how God lavishes grace, cf. Ephesians 1:8)

Father in heaven, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and in the name of Jesus, hear my prayer and cause my generosity, and that of my brothers and sisters, to reflect Your justice, unconditional love, and care for everyone, regardless of what everyone else is doing in the dark days we find ourselves.

“The faithful know how much need they have of Jesus and Him crucified; but though they wonder and rejoice at the ineffable love made manifest in Him, they are not daunted at having no more than their own poor souls to give in return for such great and condescending charity. They love all the more, because they know themselves to be loved so exceedingly.”

Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) monk, abbot, reformer of the Cistercian order, and doctor of the church, in the opening section of chapter three of his classic work: On Loving God.

I recently got a t-shirt that says “Sow Love!” and a bumper sticker that reads: “Sow Much Love!” from my brothers at seedbed.com. These phrases came to mind while reading from Bernard of Clairvaux this morning.

Our capacity to “sow much love” flows from the “ineffable love” we have received from Jesus Christ. What does “ineffable” mean? “Too great or extreme to be expressed or described in words.”

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! 1 John 3:1a. Let us not only revel in the ineffable love of Christ today. Let’s generously lavish it on others.

“Through the Holy Scriptures we are trained to action that is pleasing to God, and untroubled contemplation. For in these we find both exhortation to every virtue and dissuasion from every vice. If, therefore, we are lovers of learning, we shall also be learned in many things. For by care and toil and the grace of God the Giver, all things are accomplished. For every one that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened [cf. Luke 11:10].

But let us not knock carelessly but rather zealously and constantly: lest knocking we grow weary. For thus it will be opened to us. If we read once or twice and do not understand what we read, let us not grow weary, but let us persist, let us talk much, let us enquire. For ask thy Father, he saith, and He will shew thee: thy elders and they will tell thee [cf. Deuteronomy 32:7]… Let us draw of the fountain of the garden perennial and purest waters springing into life eternal. Here let us luxuriate, let us revel insatiate: for the Scriptures possess inexhaustible grace.”

John of Damascus (676-749), patriarch of Jerusalem, monk, and noted widely as the last of the Greek fathers of the church, in De Fide Orthodoxa, translated as An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book IV Chapter XVII, “Concerning Scripture”.

Do not merely look to the Scriptures to find advice for living. Find therein the only pathway to life. Revel in the fact that the grace of God the Giver is inexhaustible. Mine the Scriptures to come to know the God we serve and tap into God as the Source of true riches and abundant generosity.

In the midst of the dark ages, this church father called people to dig into God’s Word and therein find “inexhaustible grace” and life. His enthusiasm was likely rooted in texts such as Ephesians 3:14-21. This is my prayer for all meditations readers today.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

“Fly avarice, the Queen of all the vices, who never enters the human heart alone, but always brings a flattering and deceiving train along with her. Show yourself zealous for the public good; do more by reason than by terror. Let your person be a refuge for the oppressed, a defense of the weak, a stronghold for him who is stricken down by any calamity.”

Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (485-585) known commonly as Cassiodorus and closely associated with the Monastery at Vivarium in his letter “To the Various Cancellarii of the Several Provinces” as Praetorian Prefect.

Yesterday was a tough day. Long day of travel to Florida then spoke with a couple leaders who had been mistreated by avaricious and deceiving employers. In the dark ages when times were tough Cassiodurus called leaders to avoid the sin that was the root of all kinds of evil (cf. 1 Timothy 6:10).

His words were relevant then and ring true today! Christian leaders must lead by “reason” not “terror” and must be “zealous for the public good” all the time! Let us be a “refuge for the oppressed, a defense of the weak, a stronghold” for the stricken. God help us do this and do it with generosity and love!

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:19-21

Then the Lord goes on: Eat this book and go speak to the children of Israel. And I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that book. Ezekiel 3:1-2

“Whatever is found in Scripture is to be eaten; even its least words bring calm and order to simple men, and it’s higher teachings instruct the minds of the more discerning…it is for this reason we must understand them: that they may be a means of help to ourselves, and that they may, by our spiritual effort, be also bestowed on others…Eat, and be fed. Be filled, and give forth. Receive my word, and spread it among others. Be strengthened and labor.”

Gregory the Great (540-604), pope and doctor of the church, in Sermon entitled “Hearing the Word of God” PL 76, Homily 10.

Gregory lived and ministered during the timeframe known widely as “the dark ages” (from the fall of Rome in 476 to around the year 1000) when civilization shifted from imperial rule to feudal structures, when regions were overrun by barbarians, and monastic communities attempted to preserve Christianity in localized settings.

In a world filled with disarray, Gregory reminds God’s people to nourish themselves on God’s Word and to share it richly with others. Though this message was proclaimed fourteen centuries ago, it rings true and applies today. Let us be people who eat the Scriptures and spread it among others. This requires intentional activity. Are you feeding on God’s Word and giving it forth?

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3

“Let us have no resource but in God, so that we may be poor in spirit, of whom it is added: ‘I will satisfy her poor with bread’ [Psalm 132:15]. On the other hand, the Apostle [Paul] says of the rich: ‘Charge the rich of this world not to be proud, or to trust in the uncertainty of their riches, but in the living God’ [1 Timothy 6:17].” What, then, should they do with their riches? That follows: ‘Let them be rich in good works, giving readily, sharing with others, and thus providing for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, in order that they may lay hold of the true life’ [1 Timothy 6:18-19]. As long as they do not seize the true life, they are poor; as soon as they do, they will be rich…

Blessed Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, even Joseph, David, and many other saints of the Old Testament were rich, and their riches did not harm them. In the New Testament, too, Zachaeus was rich, as well as Cornelius a centurion; also wealthy was that other centurion of whom the Lord said: ‘I have not found so great a faith in Israel’ [Matthew 8:10]. Although these men were rich, they deserved to be counted among God’s poor and blessed and to receive eternal happiness, because they did not place their hopes in their riches but in the living God.”

Caesarius of Arles (c. 470-542), bishop, in Sermon 49 “How the Widows, Orphans, and the Poor in Scripture are to be Interpreted.”

Every Memorial Day I look for meditations that remember the lives of the saints who have gone before us and grasped our role to serve as generous conduits of God’s rich blessings. Caesarius of Arles celebrates an all star cast of them in this sermon excerpt. They are real people who did not place their hopes in their riches but in the living God: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David, Zachaeus, and Cornelius. Let us not only remember them, let us join them in being poor in spirit, and in so doing, we seize the true life!

“No one in creation is rich but he that fears God; no one is truly poor but he that lacks the truth. How needy is he, and not rich, whose need witnesses against him that even from the abject and the beggars he needs to receive a gift. He is truly a bondman, and many are his masters: he renders service to money, to riches, and possessions. His lords are void of mercy, for they grant him no repose…

Sufficient for thee is thy daily bread, that comes of the sweat of thy face. Let this be the measure of thy need, that which the day gives thee; and if thou findest for thyself a feast, take of it that which thou needest. Thou shalt not take in a day (the provision) of days, for the belly keeps no treasure. Praise and give thanks when thou art satisfied, that therein thou provoke not the Giver to anger…In everything give thanks and praise unto God as the Redeemer, that He may grant thee by His grace, that we may hear and do His will.”

Ephraim the Syrian (c. 306-373), hymnographer and theologian, in “On Admonition and Repentance” 21.

On this Lord’s Day, let us heed Ephraim’s reminder to fear God, for that is the pathway to true riches. Let us work hard, live simply, and give thanks for God’s loving care. That means eat only what we need for the “belly keeps no treasure.” To provoke the Giver would be to fail to handle God’s gifts as He intends.

Yesterday was our daughter’s high school graduation. I felt a deep sense of gratitude toward the teachers that have shaped Sophie’s life so I thanked each one I saw. As for Sophie’s valedictory address, it revealed her rich fear of God and deep desire to glorify Him. Hearing it was like receiving a precious gift. You can watch it here.