Bible in a Year with Fr Paul

I have heard many, after such experience, blame themselves and say, “What advantage is it that I have grieved? I have not recovered my money, and I have injured myself.” But if you have grieved on account of sin, you have blotted it out and reaped the greatest pleasure. If you have grieved for your brothers who have fallen, you have both encouraged and comforted yourself and have also restored the...

Jerusalem is to be represented on a brick, and the brick itself is to be placed before the prophet, so that when it looks like Jerusalem in the dust, it can portray the whole blockade against it—St Jerome

Is it not true that from the beginning and long before today you lived with countless transgressions of the law? Did not the prophet Ezekiel accuse you ten thousand times when he brought in the two harlots, Oholah and Oholibah, and said, “You built a brothel in Egypt, you passionately loved barbarians, and you worshiped strange gods.”—St John Chrysostom

Admittedly the divine, because it is without a body, is untouchable and entirely intact, because the divine is beyond every creature, both visible and intelligible, and in nature it is incorporeal, immaculate, untouchable and incomprehensible. Since the only-begotten Word of God, having taken a body from the holy virgin, and, as I already said over and over again, having made it his own, offered h...

Why is it that I admire Ezekiel? Because the order was given him to make known to Jerusalem its abominations, and he did not place before his eyes any danger that would result from his preaching, but in order to keep only the precepts of God, he spoke whatever he was told. Let us realize that there was a mystery, that there was the revelation of a mysterious kind on the subject of Jerusalem and al...

Thus [the devil] suffers and is dishonored; and although he still ventures with shameless confidence to disguise himself, yet now, wretched spirit, he is detected rather by those who bear the sign on their foreheads; and he is even rejected by them, and is humbled and put to shame. For even if, now that he is a creeping serpent, he shall transform himself into an angel of light, yet his deception...

Thus there is the expression in Exodus: “From the firstborn of Pharaoh to the firstborn of the captive woman who was in the pit.” [ Exo 12:29 .] But they even threw Jeremiah also into a pit. His brothers through jealousy confined Joseph in a pit without water. [ Gen 37:24 .] Each act, therefore, either draws us downward by oppressing us with sin or lifts us upward by raising us on wings toward God...

Of course nothing is “too hard for the Lord.” But if we choose to apply this principle so extravagantly and harshly in our capricious imaginations, we may then make out God to have done anything we please, on the ground that it was not impossible for him to do it. We must not suppose, however, because he is able to do all things, that he has done what he has not done. But we must inquire whether h...

Although we say that trial is twofold, that is, in prosperity and in adversity, yet you must know that all people are tried in three different ways. Often they are tried for their probation , sometimes for their improvement , and in some cases because their sins deserve it. For their probation indeed! We read that the blessed Abraham and Job and many of the saints endured countless tribulations.…...

Christ showed that he was different from those who neglect the flock when it is being preyed on by wolves, since he did not neglect them and even laid down his life for them so that the sheep might not perish—St John Chrysostom

Four living creatures with four forms stand announcing the coming of Christ: the form of the man for one of them, because Jesus Christ was born at Bethlehem, as the Evangelist Matthew tells us; the form of the lion for another, as Mark proclaims him as having come from the Jordan, like the royal lion, as it is written, “Behold, like a lion coming up from the jungle of the Jordan”; [ Jer 49:19 .] t...

If you take precautions to save your daughter from the bite of a viper, why are you not equally careful to shield her from “the hammer of the whole earth”? Or to prevent her from drinking of the golden cup of Babylon? Or keep her from going out with Dinah to see the daughters of a strange land? Or save her from the tripping dance and from the trailing robe? No one administers poison until he has r...

He also adds, “Seek the peace of the city or the land,” “for in its peace will be your peace.” This is confirmed by the apostolic exhortation: “I urge, first of all, that intercessions, prayers, requests and thanksgivings be made for all persons, for kings and all who are in high office, that we might live a quiet and tranquil life in all reverence and chastity.” [ 1Ti 2:1-2 .]Furthermore, accordi...

The Septuagint does not translate “two years,” nor does it call Hananiah a “prophet,” lest it appear to name someone a prophet who was in fact no prophet, as if not many persons in sacred Scripture were named in accordance with the opinion of the time in which they lived or according to the truth of the matter. But Joseph is called the father of the Lord. And Mary, who knew that she had conceived...

It is written that when Jeremiah caused the nations and kingdoms to drink the cup of wrath, he said concerning each one of the cities, that after they shall drink the cup, I will turn back the captivity of Elam, of Tyre, of Sidon, of the children of Ammon, and of Moab and of Edom—Aphrahat

The narrative is clear indeed and requires but little interpretation. Because he displeased God, Nebuchadnezzar was turned into a madman and dwelled for seven years among the brute beasts and fed on the roots of herbs. Afterwards, by the mercy of God, he was restored to his throne and praised and glorified the King of heaven.… But there are some who claim to understand by the figure of Nebuchadnez...

The impious king beheld a dream concerning things to come, in order that he might give glory to God after the holy man interpreted what he had seen and that great consolation might be afforded the captive [Jews] and those who still served God in their captive state. We read this same thing in the case of Pharaoh, not because Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar deserved to behold visions but in order that J...

I, the angel of repentance, am telling you: Do not fear the devil. For I have been sent,” he said, “to be on the side of you, who repent with your whole heart, and to steady you in the faith. Put your faith in God, you who despair of your life because of your sins, you who add to your sins and make your life burdensome. Trust that, if you turn to the Lord with your whole heart [Cf. Jol 2:12 .] and...

Sensual persons who dwell in vaulted houses and take delight in coffered silver ceilings do not build a house like this. As they despise plain silver, so do they despise a simple dwelling place. [See Isa 5:8 .] They add to the site of their homes. They add more and more. They join one house with another, one estate with another. They dig up the ground so that the earth itself gives way for their d...

That people then were sick. There were all kinds of diseases among those who had the name of the people of God. God sent to them the prophets as healers. One of the healers was Jeremiah. He reproved the sinners, since he wanted those who do evil to return. Yet, though needing to hear what was said, they accused the prophet, and they accused before judges similar to themselves. And always the proph...

The sons of Jonadab, we are told, drank neither wine nor strong drink and dwelled in tents pitched wherever night overtook them. According to the Psalter, they were the first to undergo captivity; for, when the Chaldaeans began to ravage Judah, they were compelled to take refuge in cities. Others may think what they like and follow each his own bent. But to me a town is a prison and solitude parad...

You exclaim, “How fitting it was for Jeremiah, with the chorus of the prophets and all the saints, to cry out, ‘Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes,’ that he might bewail the sins of the foolish people, because the church of Christ expelled the teachers of the Pelagian error.” If you wish to weep wholesomely, weep for this, that you are involved in that error, and le...

Again, the Scriptures speak of God as asleep when the psalmist says, “Arise! Why do you sleep, O Lord?” [ Psa 44:23 (43:24 LXX).] He does not say this to make us suspect that God sleeps. This would be the utmost madness. By the word sleep the psalm shows God’s patience and forbearance toward us. Another prophet has said, “You will not be like a person who sleeps, will you?” [Jer 14:9 (LXX).] Do yo...

“In that day, says the Lord, the sun shall go down at noon, and there shall be darkness over the earth in the clear day. I will turn your feast days into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation,” [ Amo 8:9-10 .] plainly announced that obscuration of the sun that at the time of his crucifixion took place from the sixth hour onwards, and that after this event, those days that were their festiv...

We are the robe of Christ. When we have clothed him with our confession of faith, we, in turn, have put on Christ. It is the apostle who says that Christ is our robe, for when we are baptized, we put on Christ. [ Gal 3:27 .] We both clothe and are clothed. Would you like to know in what manner we clothe the Lord? We read in Jeremiah: “Go buy yourself a linen loincloth. Wear it on your loins, and g...