Service to God adds nothing to Him

Service to God adds nothing to Him, and He has no need of human obedience. On the contrary, He grants life, incorruptibility and eternal glory to those who follow and serve Him. He bestows benefits on those who serve Him just because they serve Him and on His followers just because they follow Him, but He does not receive any benefit from them because He is rich, perfect, and in need of nothing. God demands service from us not because He needs it but because He is good and merciful and wants to benefit those who continue in His service.


St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies IV.14.i

Only what human nature is able to receive

When we speak of God, we do not say all that we might (for that is known to Him only) but only what human nature is able to receive and our weakness can bear. We do not explain what God is but candidly confess that our knowledge of Him is not exact. Where God is concerned, confessing our ignorance is the sign of greatest knowledge.

St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, VI.2

Trinitie Sunday

Lord, who hast form’d me out of mud,
And hast redeem’d me through thy bloud
And sanctifi’d me to do good;

Purge all my sinnes done heretofore:
For I confesse my heavie score,
And I will strive to sinne no more.

Enrich my heart, mouth, hands in me,
With faith, with hope, with charitie;
That I may runne, rise, rest with thee.

George Herbert, Trinitie Sunday

St. Ignatius of Antioch on the Eucharist

I have no taste for the food that perishes nor for the pleasures of this life. I want the Bread of God which is the Flesh of Christ, who was the seed of David; and for drink I desire His Blood which is love that cannot be destroyed.

St. Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Romans, par. 7

What is more precious than gold and precious stones

Tell me, if anyone gave you gold dust, would you not with all precaution keep it fast, being on your guard against losing any of it, and suffering loss? How much more cautiously then will you observe that not a crumb falls from you of what is more precious than gold and precious stones.

St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Mystagogical Catechesis V.21

On receiving the Eucharist frequently

If you could see how many daggers, spears, and arrows are aimed at you every moment, you would be glad to come to the sacrament as often as you can. The only reason we go about so securely and heedlessly is that we neither imagine nor believe that we are in the flesh, in the wicked world, or under the kingdom of the devil.

Martin Luther, Large Catechism, V.82

Love (iii)

Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back,
              Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
              From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
              If I lacked anything.

“A guest,” I answered, “worthy to be here”:
             Love said, “You shall be he.”
“I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear,
             I cannot look on thee.”
Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,
             “Who made the eyes but I?”

“Truth, Lord; but I have marred them; let my shame
              Go where it doth deserve.”
“And know you not,” says Love, “who bore the blame?”
              “My dear, then I will serve.”
“You must sit down,” says Love, “and taste my meat.”
              So I did sit and eat.

George Herbert, Love (iii)

Although you have not actually committed all these crimes…

For although you have not actually committed all these crimes, as far as you are concerned, you have nevertheless permitted your neighbors to languish and perish in their misfortune. It is just as if I saw someone who was struggling in deep water…and I could stretch out my hand to pull him out and save him, and yet I did not do so. How would I appear before all the world except as a murderer…?

Martin Luther, Large Catechism, I.192

The Cause of the Leper

And it occurs to me that Jesus couldn’t have cared less about the cause of the leper or the rights of the leper. But when there was a leper in his path he did not walk around him, like the priest walking on the opposite side of the road from the man set upon by thieves, on his way to Jerusalem to preach his famous sermon on compassion. Jesus stopped. And healed. And loved. Not causes, but people.

Madeleine L’Engle, The Irrational Season, Chapter IX