Christian Heritage - September 14 - The Fruit of the Cross

"How precious the gift of the cross, how splendid to contemplate! In the cross there is no mingling of good and evil, as in the tree of paradise: it is wholly beautiful to behold and good to taste. The fruit of this tree is not death but life, not darkness but light. This tree does not cast us out of paradise, but opens the way for our return.

"This was the tree on which Christ, like a king on a chariot, destroyed the devil, the lord of death, and freed the human race from his tyranny. This was the tree upon which the Lord, like a brave warrior wounded in hands, feet, and side, healed the wounds of sin that the evil serpent had inflicted on our nature. A tree once caused our death, but now a tree brings life. Once deceived by a tree, we have now repelled the cunning serpent by a tree. What an astonishing transformation! That death should become life, that decay should become immortality, that shame should become glory! Well might the holy Apostle exclaim: Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world! The supreme wisdom that flowered on the cross has shown the folly of worldly wisdom's pride. The knowledge of all good, which is the fruit of the cross, has cut away the shoots of wickedness."

Theodore of Studios (AD 759-826), Oratio in adorationem crucis: PG 99, 693-694

Theodore refounded the monastery of Studios at Constantinople and made it a center of monastic life in the East. He has left a number of letters and treatises.

While I agree that the Cross is instrincally good and pleasant, I think we must also keep in mind the obvious bitterness and horror of it. The Cross is good because of the love God shed upon us from it; it is bad, however, because of the agony we cast upon God at it. The tree in Eden was appealing to eye and tongue, but was lethal and foul as our doom. The Cross was lethal and foul to eye and mind, but is our life and hope for God's glory.

Also, I think it's fruitful to remember the whole cast of Eden. Redemption is mystical reversal along the same existential contours. We fell in Adam when Eve offered him the fruit and he offered his obedience to God to himself; but we were redeemed in Christ when he offered Himself to the Father and his mother to us at the Cross.

It reely sez sumthing wenn...

a dictonary webpage misspells its own namesake in the URL.



Ah, the Internet -- giving boundless intellectual security to people that can't even spell it.

Christian Heritage - September 12 & 13

September 12

Natural Illumination

"Wisdom has built her house. The substantive power of God the Father has made his own dwelling-place in both the whole earth, in which he lives in actuality, and in the human race itself, created in the image and likeness of God, composed of visible and invisible nature.

"To human beings themselves, re-created after their rebirth in Christ, while they believe in him and keep his commandment, he has also given the seven gifts of the Spirit. With the help of these, virtue being animated by knowledge, and knowledge in turn embodied in virtue, the spiritual human being is made complete, brought to perfection by perfect faith and participation in supernatural things.

"So Christians attain to natural illumination through the spirit, and have strength to make an eager start in the right direction, led of course by the holy desires by which all things have come into being. They have deliberation to help them distinguish the kind of desires which are entirely good and come from God, being uncreated and immortal, and permissible in thought, speech, and action, from those that are not so. They also have understanding which makes them consent to and delight in one kind and not the other."

Chew, chew, chew...

Procopius of Gaza (AD 475-528), Proverbs: PG 87/1, 1299-1304

Procopius was the foremost member of the school of rhetoric that flourished in Gaza. His major achievement was in the field of scriptural interpretation, specifically the compilor of the catenae for a number of books of the Old Testament.

Not only is this a cool quote, but Procopius is one of the raddest names I've heard in years. Hmmmm, maybe I can name my (hypothetical) kids Dorothy, Cyril AND, now, Procopius....

September 13

Let Us Take Care That We Hate No One

"Two things are required of us, here and now: to acknowledge our sins and to forgive others; the first, so that the second may become easier. For someone properly aware of his own behavior and its shortcomings will be the more forgiving to his fellow humans. And that does not mean forgiveness in words merely, but from the heart, lest in our resentment we turn the sword on ourselves. The more he has injured you, the greater the forgiveness of your own sin, in consequence.

"Let us take care that we hate no one, so that God may still love us; so that even though we may be owing him a thousand talents he may yet be generous and merciful to us. Has someone offended you? Be merciful to him, then; do not hate him. Weep and lament for him, but do not show aversion. For it is not you who have offended God, but he; you will do well to put up with it. Recall how Christ was content to be crucified — and yet shed tears over those who did it. That must be your disposition also: the more you are wronged, the more you must lament for the wrongdoers. For it is we who profit from this — and greatly — but not they."

John Chrysostom (AD 347-407), patriarch of Constantinople, Hom. LXI on Matthew

Bidness as usual...

Despite a brief burst of pop-science/tech updates and political ramblings, I've been pretty low key on the blog. As I've said, I'm trying to strike out into the frightening frontier of having a life offline. Gulp. I've been reading a good bit, speaking at various ministry meetings, teaching a lot, trying not to get sick and doing a lot emailing.

If you wanted to get a bead on my mind these days, I'm currently reading (along with, of course, the Bible):

+ _Living Tradition_ by Rev. John Meyendorff

+ _The Da Vinci Code_ by Dan Brown (Sigh, "I become all things to all people....")

+ _The Roman Catholic Controversy_ by (the one, the only) James White

+ _Catholicism and Fundamentalism_ by Karl Keating

+ the _Catechism of the Catholic Church_ (CCC)

In addition, I've finally arranged to start RCIA! I will be meeting with a Spanish-, Chinese- and English-speaking priest, Fr. Ramon, at Providence University every Monday afternoon. We'll just be reading through the CCC and discussing various issues. I hope I can brush up on my Spanish too!

As always, I welcome your questions, comments, and prayers.

Christian Heritage - September 11 - Knowledge and Love

"Rather than engaging in futile disputation let us seek to have the love of Christ burning within us. When we give way to unbridled curiosity we cease to savor delights that are eternal. Many nowadays are so consumed with desire of knowledge rather than love that they hardly know what love is, though the whole object of their study should have been to achieve a burning love of God. I say this to their shame: an old woman can be more expert in the love of God, and less worldly as well, than a theologian whose studies are useless because they are undertaken out of vanity in order to win a reputation and obtain stipends and positions of honor. Such a one should be reckoned not a doctor but a fool!"

KABOOM!

Richard Rolle (1300-1349), The Fire of Love 5, 157-160

Richard was a hermit and a mystic in England who left us the fruits of his contemplation in writing. I thank him for explaining with these words some of my hesitancy to become immersed in academia.

"Genius means watching well what God has done in Creation. ...

Wisdom means avoiding well what sin has done against it." -- Elliam Fakespeare

Robot Spider Walks on Water

Wired News, 08:19 AM Sep. 11, 2004 PT, AP

With inspiration from nature and some help from research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a team led by Carnegie Mellon engineering professor Metin Sitti built a tiny robot that can walk on water, much like the insects known as water skimmers or Jesus bugs.

It's only a prototype, but some researchers imagine the water-skimming robot could have many uses. With a chemical sensor, it could monitor water supplies for toxins; with a camera it could be a spy or an explorer; with a net or a boom, it could skim contaminants off the top of water. ...

Sitti's robot is little more than a half-inch boxy body made from carbon fibers and eight, 2-inch steel-wire legs coated with a water-repelling plastic (technically making it a water spider).

It doesn't have a brain, any sensors or a battery. Its "muscles" are three flat-plate piezoelectric actuators -- pieces of metal that bend when electricity runs through them. Wires run from the actuators to a power supply.

The robot can stand on water -- it doesn't float -- and can skim backward and forward, propelling itself with two legs that act like oars.

VII