Archives by: Gary Hoag

Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Romans 12:13

“The point here is that we should honor the saints and take care of their needs until they no longer have them.”

Diodore of Tarsus (c. 330-390) in the Pauline Commentary from the Greek Church. NTA 15:106.

“WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLIC THANKSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”

George Washington, Excerpt from Thanksgiving Proclamation from The Massachusetts Centinel, Wednesday, October 14, 1789.

“Many other monks coming from Phbow [a town on the Nile River in the Thebaid region of Egypt] by boat reached the island, and were three hundred in number. About the eighth hour of the twenty-sixth of the month of Athyr [November 22, 354] Theodore called all of us and gathered us near himself, and he told Theodore the Alexandrian to interpret what he was going to say to all:

“God revealed to me long ago what I have to say but told me to keep silence for a while. Now, as I was standing, I have just been ordered to say it to you, and it is this: In almost every place where the name of Christ is being preached, many of those who have sinned after holy baptism have kept the apostolic faith in which we also stand and have wept for their sins. The Lord, accepting the genuineness of their repentance, has wiped away their sins. Therefore all those among you who up to this day have wept truly over the sins committed after your baptism shall know that you have received forgiveness. Let each of you, therefore, confess to the Lord his mercies and say, You have changed my grief into joy; you have stripped off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness.”

Bishop Ammon (November 22, 354) in Letter of Bishop Ammon 28. CS 46:97

“Like a pilot steering a boat through waves, one should hold to the course, guided by grace. Keeping his attention fixed within himself, he should commune with God in stillness, guarding his thoughts from distraction and his intellect from curiosity.

In storms and squalls we need a pilot, and in this present life we need prayer, for we are susceptible to the provocations of our thoughts, both good and bad. If our thought is full of devotion and love of God, it rules over our passions.”

Isaiah of Scete (late 4th century) in On Guarding the Intellect 23-24. TP 1:27.

“The accumulation of immense wealth can hardly be the object of a Christian ambition. Let us hasten, by prayer, by teaching, by example, the time when wealth shall not be treasured or laid up.”

Very Rev. H.D.M. Spence (c.1886), Dean of Gloucester, in Lesson on Isaiah 23 in The Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah (New York: Funk & Wagnalls).

“Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor?” Judas in John 12:5a

“Influenced by his fraudulent greed, it is evident that he [Judas] expresses this particular charge attempting to hide it under the guise of religion.”

Gaudentius (c. 390), Bishop of Brescia in Sermon 13. PL 20:935-36.

“Direct the minds of people from earthly to heavenly things!”

Paulinus of Milan, Deacon to St. Ambrose (c. 400) in Life of Ambrose 2.3. FC 15:34-35.

“Rare indeed are those who rejoice at postponing pleasures, for people attach themselves naturally to the preference of present enjoyment.”

Nilus of Ancyra (c. 400), disciple of John Chrysostom in Commentary on the Song of Songs 31. SC 403:210-12.

“When the naturally beautiful neck is endowed with the adornment of jewels, such industry undoubtedly increases happiness and, as though they were worthy, the honor of necklaces and the loveliness of necks as well. This is also true with you, therefore, whose generosity is constituted by doctrine, so that discipline would perfect the virtues which nature began.”

Julian of Eclanum (c. 386-c. 455) in Commentary on the Song of Songs Fragment 9. CCL 88:400.

“As he has carried off the properties of the poor and has not restored them, so his own possessions will not be saved either. He shall not be saved by his desire. There is nothing remaining of his provisions; therefore his goods shall not flourish.”

Olympiodorus (early 6th century), Exegete and Deacon of Alexandria in Commentary on Job 20:19-21. PST 24:177-78.