On Desire

The Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Trinity

O LORD, we beseech thee to keep thy Church and household continually in thy true religion; that they who do lean only upon the hope of thy heavenly grace may evermore be defended by thy mighty power; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

As the Articles of Religion affirm and as Scripture teaches us, God has gifted humanity with free will. A consequence of this free will is that we have desires. These are the forces within us that motivate us to act. Our desires can be either good or bad, either drawing us nearer to God or taking us away from him.

St Augustine of Hippo famously defined desire that draws us towards God, virtue, in terms of rightly ordered love. In On Christian Doctrine he famously expands on this meaning stating that:

love things, that is to say, in the right order, so that you do not love what is not to be loved, or fail to love what is to be loved, or have a greater love for what should be loved less, or an equal love for things that should be loved less or more, or a lesser or greater love for things that should be loved equally.

To use the language of desire, we must use our free will to order our desires in order that we desire to be in the amount suitable to the object of that desire. Disordered desire is the root of sin. For instance, when we desire material wealth for ourselves over our desire for the well-being of our neighbours, it is easy to see how we might be willing to cheat them or otherwise allow our actions to negatively affect them in the pursuit of our own gain.

A clearer example comes from the consideration of the desire for social belonging. It is a fundamental motivator of all human behaviour to have belonging. In a modern Western context, that desire manifests in certain culturally conditioned patterns of behaviour which are normative for anyone who wants to fit in and be a part of society. It is perfectly natural and anyone would be hard pressed to suggest that in and of itself a desire to be a part of a group is sinful. Yet Christianity often challenges these cultural norms that form the basis of belonging. How often on a Sunday does a homily exegete a passage of Holy Scripture by expounding on how Christ is calling us to counter-cultural action? Suddenly our desire for God—to follow him, to honour him and to have intimate relationship with him, is placed in conflict with the desire to conform to the norms of society in order to fit in. If we place our desire to conform to the norms of society above our desire to follow God’s counter-cultural call, we have a disordered desire.

There are many hymns and modern praise songs that speak of turning ourselves wholeheartedly over to Christ. How many Christians, however, can upon reflection sing these lyrics in all sincerity? 

In the famous lyrics, “O Love that wilt not let me go, / I rest my weary soul in thee; / I give thee back the life I owe, / That in thine ocean depths its flow / May richer, fuller be,” we are promising to give back our lives to God who gave us life, yet that does not in practice seem to be what we do. We withhold our lives from God like Ananias and Sapphira withheld some of the profit from the sale of their property.  Our lips proclaim a desire to turn ourselves over to God, but our actions often show those words to ring hollow in our lives.

There is a disconnect between what we say we desire, what we say we love, and what we actually love. We have failed in most of our modern Christian lives, to cultivate a theology of desire, this place of rightly ordered desires that will maintain our orientation towards God.

It is helpful to think of this in terms of desire rather than love because often we view loves as something which we have no control over, and also because we associate love with the emotion of love far more than we ought to when considering the full spectrum of what love entails. With desire, it seems easier to draw that mental connection with our ability to control our desires.

This is where spiritual disciplines come in. It is through the use of spiritual disciplines that we can begin to cultivate Godly desires and suppress those or reshape those desires that are disordered. Spiritual disciplines are opportunities to practice intentional orientation of our desires in a way that we often wouldn’t consider to be the case in terms of love. When love is viewed as an emotion it means it cannot be controlled or shaped, simply experienced and actualized or denied. With desire, we can shape it because it is something more persistent.

Ultimately, when our desires are oriented towards God, they will move us towards him. When they remain disordered, however, they will move us away from him. Desires apart from God are never fully satisfied, however, as they are ultimately self-satisfied. CS Lewis makes this point when he argues that pride is the great sin from which all other sin derives because it explicitly involves placing ourselves in the place of God. As we are created with a desire and that desire can only be fulfilled by God, it becomes a clear implication that when we follow these disordered desires we will always be left wanting more.

Spiritual disciplines that are useful for the reorientation of our desires include the cultivation of gratitude and thankfulness. This might be as simple as beginning your morning in a prayer of thanksgiving for how you are thankful for a day of opportunity that God has brought you to (the collect for grace from Morning Prayer is a suitable starting point for this) to creating gratitude lists: identifying throughout your day all the things you are grateful to God for. 

The confession from Morning Prayer reminds us that, “we have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts,” and is a lesson that St Paul reminds us of. In Romans 1. 21 Paul describes how the lack of gratitude towards God for who he is and what he has done is the root of humanity’s descent into guilt and the disordering of humanity’s desires. To return to Godly desires, we need to consider why we got there in the first place and then continue to practice this culture of gratitude in order to strengthen the correctly ordered desires.

It is through this development of a clear theology of desire that we find ourselves drawing closer and closer to God.

The Wisdom of Saints: George Herbert

The Feast of George Herbert, Pastor and Poet, 1633

O GOD, who by thy Holy Spirit hast given unto one man a word of wisdom, and to another a word of knowledge, and to another the gift of tongues: We praise thy Name for the gifts of grace manifested in thy servant George, and we pray that thy Church may never be destitute of the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

While many Christian saints are remembered for their contributions to theology or as martyrs and confessors who stood up to persecution of Christianity, some are commemorated in honour of the extraordinary gifts and talents they received from God and exercised for his glory. George Herbert is one of these saints, being noted chiefly not as a priest but as a poet, whose prose has stirred the hearts of Christians now for centuries, inspiring other Christian writers including notably TS Eliot.

George Herbert was born in Wales in April of 1593, the son of Richard and Magdalen Newport Herbert. His parents were aristocratic and wealthy, able to provide him with an excellent education, despite being the fifth child born to them. His father died in 1597, when he was only three years old, but this did not prevent his mother from sending him—and his brothers—to Westminster School and in 1609 George was admitted to Trinity College at Cambridge University with the intention of eventually entering into Holy Orders as priest in the Church of England.
Early in his studies, evidence of his developing poetic talents and love of God survive in the form of his first recorded sonnets from 1610 which he sent to his mother. Both presented the idea that poetry was meant for expressing the love of God and not the love of women. Two years later in 1612 his first works were published, poetry commemorating Prince Henry upon his death.

He obtained his BA In 1613 and MA in 1616, and elected to continue on at Cambridge as a fellow at Trinity College. He continued to develop his oratory and poetry and in 1618 he was appointed Reader in Rhetoric at Cambridge, and then again two years later as the Public Orator, the person responsible for conveying the sentiments of the University to the King.

This seemed to forestall his possible call to Holy Orders and indeed he was subsequently elected to Parliament as the MP for Montgomery. His status as an MP and public orator led to speculation he could well be selected as Secretary of State. In 1627 his mother died, and some of his patrons, including King James I with whom George had found favour, also died. These setbacks may have contributed to his decision to abandon the secular life and return to his original goal of pursuing Holy Orders.

In 1629 he was ordained a priest. He was appointed rector at a small rural parish and he began a career of preaching and writing poetry. His career was relatively short-lived as he passed away in 1633 of consumption, however during this period he still managed a prolific and influential portfolio of poetry.

His works are viewed as being technically influential and unique in the era, and his subjects often were influenced both by his Christianity but also specifically by his Anglican context.

He wrote on many subjects. Displaying his Anglican influence is the poem Even-Song and The British Church. He wrote on prayer, Scripture and on Love. One of his more famous works, Love (III) which presents love as God:

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

“A guest,” I answer’d, “worthy to be here”;
        Love said, “You shall be he.”
“I, the unkind, the 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 marr’d 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. 

The poem illustrates a number of themes. From man’s sinfulness to God’s repeated calling to us to return, repent and feast with him. It captures the shame and distance felt between created and creator, and the creator’s loving desire to reconcile us all to himself.

George’s poem Colossians 3. III is based on Col 3. 3b: “your life is hidden with Christ in God,” and expresses that indwelled identity:

MY words and thoughts do both express this notion,
That LIFE hath with the sun a double motion.
The first IS straight, and our diurnal friend :
The other HID, and doth obliquely bend.
One life is wrapt IN flesh, and tends to earth ;
The other winds t’wards HIM whose happy birth
Taught me to live here so THAT still one eye
Should aim and shoot at that which IS on high—
Quitting with daily labour all MY pleasure,
To gain at harvest an eternal TREASURE. 

God graced George Herbert with a skill for language, and in loving devotion to him who he recognized as imparting that gift, George devoted his considerable talents to honouring God in a way that has inspired many through their simple reading and also inspired others to follow on in similar techniques. He is a testament to the right-use of God-gifted talents and abilities.

On Obedience

The Second Sunday after Christmas

ALMIGHTY God, who hast given us thy only begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure Virgin: Grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

 Having identified a number of charisms, which is to say gifts, given by the Holy Spirit, the question then becomes one of why they are given, who receives them and what they are to be used for.

Last week’s discussion focused on the charisms or gifts of the Holy Spirit and ended with some consideration on the topic of how gifts are to be used, in reference to St Paul’s instructions in I Corinthians 14 that the gift of tongues ought to be accompanied by interpretation. Those were not the only instructions provided by St Paul, and the other Biblical writers, on how and why charisms, that is to say gifts of the Spirit, are to be used.

The first clue indeed comes from earlier in St Paul’s epistle to the Corinthians where he says, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the Common Good… All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills,” (I Cor 12. 7, 11). From this first point, St Paul begins to hint at a complete answer to some of these questions, though primarily addressing the question of why. In this, he suggests it is God’s will that determines what gifts we might receive. It is always important to bear this fact in mind, as it reminds us that these gifts are not available for our own use as we want, but are free gifts given to us by the Spirit. This nature, that it is given by God’s will and not our own, also hints towards how we are to use them.

As to who receives gifts of the Spirit, St Paul also comments in chapter twelve that while one is given the figt of wisdom, the other knowledge, another faith. In making this statement he notes quite clearly that not every Christian receives each gift. This aligns with his previous comments that gifts are given based on the will of God. But it also makes clear that any Christian may receive. To some who are unfamiliar with gifts of the Spirit, they may think that only some Christians receive gifts of the Spirit. That you must, perhaps, be particularly pious, or devote yourself to prayer. Yet St Paul’s words in Holy Scripture make it quite clear that it is not the case and that any Christian may exercise gifts of the Spirit. Indeed St Peter makes it more explicit when he says that every Christian receives the gifts of the Holy Spirit (I St Pt 4. 10).

St Paul expounds on the why of this in his epistle to the Romans when he says, “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us,” (Rm 12. 4-6). Here he makes clear that each is given the gifts, in accordance with God’s will, that would be useful for them to serve out their callings. Being members of the Body of Christ, each member receives what is needed, such that the whole body is well-equipped.

Therefore in these collective statements, St Paul and St Peter have largely addressed the question of who receives charisms and a bit on why they are given, leaving the larger question of how they are to be used.

Ultimately that question is to a degree answered in the same way. St Peter specifically calls on Christians to use their gifts, “to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ,” (I St Pt 4. 10, 11). St Paul similarly writes, “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,” (Eph 4. 11, 12). Here he is again speaking of equipping, but elaborates on the goal of such equipping, that those individual members use their gifts to build up the body of Christ. It should be noted, that there is a dual meaning to building the body of Christ. This can be viewed both as encouraging and building up the faith of our brothers and sisters in Christ, and also bringing new people to faith in Christ.  Another way of looking at this is to suggest the dual purpose involves building up the faith of others and being a witness to non-Christians.

This raises the final, and perhaps most important question. Once you understand what spiritual gifts are, to whom they are given, why they are given and for what purpose they are given, the question is how to respond. The answer is simple enough: loving obedience.

Faith in Christ calls us to act out our faith as we are told in Scripture, “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled”, without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead,” (Jas 2. 15-17). It is the Holy Spirit that equips us to, figuratively, clothe and feed the poor in Spirit.

When St Paul exhorts young Timothy saying, “Do not neglect the gift you have,” (I St Tim 4. 14a) he is speaking of a Spiritual gift. So just as faith calls us to act in love, gifts of the Spirit call us to repond by using them for the purposes they have been given. We are to respond in obedience.

Immediately after identifying gifts of the Spirit in that well-known passage from I Corinthians 12, St Paul immediately ties the use of gifts of the Spirit to love. “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing,” (I Cor 13. 1, 2).

It is the combination of these two passages that gives us the clearest and simplest response to gifts loving obedience to God, manifested through loving service and witness to others.

On Welcome

The Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity

O GOD, forasmuch as without thee we are not able to please thee: Mercifully grant, that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Harvest Thanksgiving

O ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who crownest the year with thy goodness, and hast given unto us the fruits of the earth in their season: Give us grateful hearts, that we may unfeignedly thank thee for all thy loving-kindness, and worthily magnify thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Harvest thanksgiving is an opportunity for Canadian Christians to give thanks to God for the way in which he shaped creation in order to provide for us. Bountiful harvests mean we in Canada rarely suffer for lack of food—something which in the history of the world and even in contemporary times is not necessarily the norm for the majority of the people on Earth.

Harvest Thanksgiving is also one of those holy days which in Canada has become a holiday in secular society. A time for families to gather and give thanks, not necessarily to God, but to each other and to the circumstances of their lives. With such family gatherings, it means there is also a tendency to see more strangers in Church on Sunday. Not to the degree of Easter and Christmas, but it is a time in which travelling family members may deem to grace the doors of Church. They could be Christians from another tradition, lapsed Christians who only enter parish church when forced to by virtue of visiting their parents or other relatives, or they could be lifelong unbelievers who only ever attend with Christian relatives when gathered with them.

Having a larger number of guests attending highlights an important question within the Church of how we are to respond to guests, particularly those who are not believers and whose views of the Church are shaped not by knowledge of Christ, but by secular representations and popular culture. For them, sin may well simply be a contrivance of organized religion created to keep the people controlled.

Someone recently spoke of how we are to be accepting of others as Christians, and it made me ask the question, is that truly what God asks us to do? Does God accept all of us as we are? To some Christians today, it seems the answer must be yes. God welcomes all to his table, and how can one be welcoming without acceptance? This, however, is not the Biblical norm God has revealed to us.

In the Old Testament, it seems quite clear that God welcomes his people to return, but he does not accept when they turn from him. The lectionary reading from Amos for today reminds us of who God does not accept, those whose way is evil:

Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said, Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. (Am 5. 14, 15)

There are many more examples of God calling out his chosen people, through the prophets, for falling away from him. Jeremiah, for instance, was given the task of warning Israel that God had turned from them after they had rejected him and would allow them to be taken into exile.

This reality that God does not accept us as we are sounds harsh, and indeed God calling the Jews to repentance by allowing them to be overrun and put into exile is well beyond the Christian experience, and thus harder to comprehend.

In the New Testament, we are shown a new paradigm. Jesus ate and drank with outcasts and sinners, something that greatly offended the Jews of his time for they followed the example they had been shown to shun those who are sinners, in order to themselves avoid falling into sin.

Jesus, however, draws a distinction between welcoming and accepting. He did not tell them they were not to change, not to seek forgiveness of their sins and to sin no more. Jesus did not stone the adulterous woman, and indeed his words caused her accusers to leave. The end of the Biblical account has the woman and Jesus alone, and Jesus then asks the woman who accuses her. She replies no one, and he then concludes the account saying, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more,” (St Jn 8. 11b). Jesus welcomed her, not condemning her, and called her to turn from sin in repentance.

In a contemporary context, we can see this welcoming and love shown, while still refraining from granting acceptance. Children often rebel against their parents in some ways, even to the point of leaving home. Sometimes, these children will return. Their parents will often welcome them back into their home in love, but this action shows no acceptance for their rebellious behaviour, but rather is a display of grace and mercy. In the case of behaviour such as drug or alcohol abuse, this welcome might be conditioned on reform which is supported by the parents. Their love means they will support the child through their change. It is no different with God. Just as parents love their child too much not to want them to change when they do wrong, God offers us sanctifying and transformative grace to change, to avoid the harm we would otherwise do ourselves and others were we to be accepted just the way we were.

Christ’s paradigm is one of grace and truth. The grace to welcome sinners, to show them, in love, the truth of God. St John Chrysostom’s commentaries on the New Testament often noted this duality of Christ’s mission. In his commentaries on Galatians and I Corinthians, he notes how whenever St Paul used harsh words to rebuke—to show truth to those to whom he was writing—he would then soothe them with mild words. It is only when truth and grace are held together that Christ’s teachings are found.

It is simple enough to say then, welcome the sinner and teach them the truth with grace. The danger, however, is in forgetting that we ourselves all fall short and sin as well. We are to welcome others because Christ continues to welcome us each week. He does not accept us, but every week continues to call us to repentance and offers us his grace to encourage, sustain and strengthen us as we seek to live the life he calls us to. The only different between a committed Christian and a guest who is seeking to know God is the length of time they have each been on the journey.

Welcome the guest, the sinner. Encourage them and extend God’s grace to them, and do that not from a position of judgement, but in recognition of the fact that Christ Jesus continues to do that for you as well.

Wisdom of Saints: St Augustine of Hippo

Feast of Augustine, Doctor, Bishop of Hippo, Africa, 430

O GOD, who by thy Holy Spirit hast given unto one man a word of wisdom, and to another a word of knowledge, and to another the gift of tongues: We praise thy Name for the gifts of grace manifested in thy servant Augustine, and we pray that thy Church may never be destitute of the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 St Augustine of Hippo is in Western Christianity the foremost among the saints in terms of his impact on Christian doctrine and understanding. Many of his writings survive, and his impact on modern Christian theology cannot be overstated.

St Augustine was born in 354 in Numidia (modern day Algeria), then part of the Roman province of Mauretania Caesariensis. His mother Monica was a Christian, however his father was a pagan. His mother sought to raise him as a Christian, and he received a Christian education. At the time, Baptism was often delayed until later in life, so despite some possible successes in his instruction in the Christian faith he was not baptised at that time. At the age of sixteen, seeing his successes in school, St Augustine’s father was determined to send him to Carthage for study in a career in forensics, however before he could be sent, sufficient money was needed to cover the expense and so St Augustine stayed idle in his home town for that year. It was during that year that his heart fell away from Christianity and he turned to vice. He was eventually sent to Carthage, but only continued in his exploration of the pleasures offered by pagans in that larger city. Eventually he took a mistress who bore him a son at the age of eighteen.

St Augustine had a great love of philosophy and was a seeker of truth. He turned to different philosophies and religions in an effort to seek ultimate truth. He became a Manichaean, drawn to its allegorical symbolism and promise of truth, in contrast to what he considered the vulgar and low-level, perhaps even ridiculous at times, Christian Scriptures.

He was still a student in Carthage when he converted to Manichaeism, and devoted his considerable talents to the understanding and promotion of this new philosophy. He read all their writings and contributed his own thoughts. As his intellectual talents continued to develop, he turned his career paths, returned to his home town of Tagaste and taught grammar, then returned to Carthage to teach rhetoric.

It was during this time that he began to have doubts about Manichaeism, as its teachings had failed to bear the promised fruit of understanding he sought, and he began to hold intellectual objections to various elements of its doctrines. He had spent nearly a decade devoting himself to the sect before ultimately becoming disillusioned.

At the age of 28, St Augustine was determined to leave Africa and make his fortune in Rome. He travelled, under cover of night in an effort to leave his mother behind, as she sought to follow him to his distress. In Italy, he opened his own school, but after being defrauded of tuition fees was forced to seek a position at another school, and ended up teaching in Milan, where he first came to meet Milan’s bishop, St Ambrose. In 386, St Augustine converted to Christianity, chiefly for three reasons: St Ambrose’s ability to answer his questions and his growing admiration for the Milanese bishop, and more importantly, God had touched his heart drawing him back to Christ whom he had borne with him ever since his early Christian education. He was baptised Easter 387, and devoted himself thoroughly to applying his intelectual gifts to the understanding an explication of Christianity.

He returned to Africa shortly after his baptism and was ordained a priest in 391 and consecrated Bishop of Hippo in 396. He would spend the rest of his life devoted to the shepherding of his flock and writing. While many of his works have disappeared, to this day over 100 books, 200 letters and 500 homilies survive, and the breadth of his theological work remains strongly influential, particularly in the Western church.

His first published Christian work is his Confessions, which reads as an outpouring of autobiographical penitence for his life up until its publication. The restlessness that led him on his quest for truth and the answer he found, is described therein: “for Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless, until it repose in Thee.” Even from his earliest works it was clear that St Augustine had a deep and well-articulated understanding to the relationship between God and mankind.

In his works, St Augustine also published a number of propositions that he would later revise and reject in subsequent works. It was a sign of his humility that upon reflection and further study he was more than willing to admit to theological errors and repudiate the positions he had previously advocated.

In his multi-volume work Christian Doctrine, St Augustine can be seen laying some of the foundational theology for St Bernard of Clairvaux’s famous On Loving God. In it he discusses at length the need of man to love God and neighbour. St Augustine goes on to  write on the Order of Love stating:

No sinner is to be loved as a sinner; and every man is to be loved as a man for God’s sake; but God is to be loved for His own sake.  And if God is to be loved more than any man, each man ought to love God more than himself.  Likewise we ought to love another man better than our own body, because all things are to be loved in reference to God, and another man can have fellowship with us in the enjoyment of God, whereas our body cannot; for the body only lives through the soul, and it is by the soul that we enjoy God.

St Augustine was a strong advocate of Biblical literacy and after noting the Canon of Scripture, he calls on Christians to familiarize themselves with Scripture. This position would become less popular over time to the point where it became a major issue during the Reformation to once again allow Bibles to be published in vernacular such that those who were literate could read, and even those who were illiterate could at least understand when it was read to them. Interestingly, he advocates for the familiarity or memorization of Scripture for several reasons, including the fact that once someone is familiar with Scripture, they themselves can use the technique of employing clear passages to interpret more obscure passages, a common exegetical technique used by the Church Fathers in St Augustine’s day. In his own words:

For among the things that are plainly laid down in Scripture are to be found all matters that concern faith and the manner of life,—to wit, hope and love, of which I have spoken in the previous book.  After this, when we have made ourselves to a certain extent familiar with the language of Scripture, we may proceed to open up and investigate the obscure passages, and in doing so draw examples from the plainer expressions to throw light upon the more obscure, and use the evidence of passages about which there is no doubt to remove all hesitation in regard to the doubtful passages.

St Augustine’s clear articulation as God as love and Christ as our hope throughout Christian Doctrine, makes it an extremely influential theological work, and throughout Western Christianity, Augustinian theology continues to inform the works of countless Christians. For millions of Christians, St Augustine’s words succinctly characterize their continued faith: “To fall in love with God is the greatest of all romance — to seek Him the greatest of all adventures, to find Him the greatest human achievement.”

The Wisdom of Saints: St Valentine of Terni

The Feast of Valentine, Bishop and Martyr, 269

O GOD, who didst bestow upon thy Saints such marvellous virtue, that they were able to stand fast, and have the victory against the world, the flesh, and the devil: Grant that we, who now commemorate thy Martyr Valentine, may ever rejoice in their fellowship, and also be enabled by thy grace to fight the good fight of faith and lay hold upon eternal life; through our Lord Jesus Christ, who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

For many, St Valentine’s Day is nothing more than a Hallmark holiday, a holiday popularised by various corporations in order to sell greeting cards and candy. Yet the reality is that St Valentine’s Day finds its origins in the commemoration of the 3rd century Christian martyr St Valentine of Terni.

It should be noted that there are actually, in the Roman Catholic tradition, a number of saints named Valentine (Valentinus in the Latinized form) whose deaths are commemorated on 14 February. For two of the three, however, relatively little is known about them. The final St Valentine is understood to the one recognized by Pope Saint Gelasius I in 496 for veneration on the 14th. Of this St Valentine, some details still remain about his life and particularly the circumstances of his martyrdom. While more was believed to have been recorded at certain times, the complete records of St Valentine’s life were believed to have been destroyed during the Diocletian Persecution in the early 4th century.

The details of St Valentine’s early life are not known, however by the reign of Emperor Claudius II from 268 - 270, he had become the bishop of Terni in central Italy. When Claudius II initiated a religious persecution against Christians, St Valentine became a target. Also important to the story was an edict promulgated by the Emperor, who was a Roman general prior to becoming Emperor and is mostly remembered for his military victories against the Goths, which prohibited young people from marrying under the belief that unmarried men make better soldiers because they would not worry about their wife and family back home.

St Valentine defied this edict, and entered couples into the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony. More than this, when Claudius initiated his persecution, Christians were arrested for maintaining their belief in Christ in contravention of the Emperor’s declaration that all citizens were to worship the Roman gods. Ultimately, St Valentine was caught, imprisoned and tortured before being sentenced to death in 269 AD.

St Valentine’s story continues with his jailor Asterius. While he was imprisoned, his jailer, seeing that St Valentine was an educated man, asked him to tutor his blind daughter Julia. St Valentine agreed, and over the course of tutoring her, the subject of religion was raised. As the story goes, St Valentine taught her that God hears our prayers, to which Julia described how she prayed to the Roman gods for her sight but they never heard her. St Valentine then laid hands on her and prayed over her sight. Her sight was miraculously healed, and Julia and her father Asterius came to faith through the miracle. In some accounts Asterius has his entire household baptised.

St Valentine continued a correspondence with Julia, and his last note, which urged her to remain close to God, was signed, “your Valentine,” which some link to the modern practice of sending valentines.

While St Valentine’s Day is more today associated with love, it is clear that the true message of this martyr is that of perseverance in faith in the face of persecution. That is not to say that his message concerning Matrimony is inconsequential. It’s clear that there is a similar message of the need to endure suffering and strife with God’s help in order to successfully enter into Holy Matrimony. In addition to being the patron saint of love, he is the patron saint of engaged couples and happy marriages.

When thinking of St Valentine’s Day, it should not be a day for chocolates, flowers and romance. It should be a day in which we remember his courage and perseverance in Christ, and how such attributes are essential in maintaining a healthy human relationship. No amount of commercial advertising should be able to convince us that a marriage can be fuelled by greeting cards, chocolates or flowers; rather marriage is fuelled by love, and there is only sufficient love for a permanent marriage when that love is drawn not from within the husband and wife, but from God, who renews and maintains the marriage each moment of each day.

On the Theological Virtues

The First Sunday in Epiphanytide

O LORD, we beseech thee mercifully to receive the prayers of thy people which call upon thee; and grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epiphany of our Lord

O GOD, who by the leading of a star didst manifest thy only-begotten Son to the Gentiles: Mercifully grant, that we, who know thee now by faith, may be led onward through this earthly life, until we see the vision of thy heavenly glory; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ, who with thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth, one God, world without end. Amen.

Epiphanytide is a season of growth, and if there is to be a summary of what we ought to grow in, it would probably be given by St Paul in his first epistle to the Corinthians, “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love,” (1 Cor 13. 13). These virtues have been spoken of time and again by many Christian authors. As CS Lewis puts it in Mere Christianity, “The "Cardinal" [virtues] are those which all civilised people recognise: the “Theological” are those which, as a rule, only Christians know about.” Taken along with the four cardinal virtues, of which temperance is one, they are known as the seven heavenly virtues and held in opposition to the seven deadly sins.

The three theological virtues of faith, hope and charity, which in the previous citation was rendered as love, have particular meanings in this context. CS Lewis did not mean, for example, to imply that a non-Christian could not have faith of any type or that non-Christians are all bereft of hope, indeed it is possible for Christians to experience elements of these non-Christian virtues. They are, as Lewis notes, peculiar, to Christianity. Someone might easily expound the virtue of temperance, which was considered a virtue in antiquity by Greeks and other non-Christians, yet they would not speak of the virtue of, for instance, charity, at least not as it is understood and presented here in its Christian context.

Much like how Lewis decried the linguistic change of meaning for the word temperance, he decries its narrowed definition for charity. In modern English, if you ask anyone of the meaning of charity, its definition would be some variation on alms giving or giving to the poor and less fortunate. This is why, as in the example given above from the English Standard Version - Anglicized, the term charity is sometimes rendered as love. The definition of the theological virtue of charity is most simply given as Christian love or agape love.

Agape love is the self-sacrificing love of God towards man (Jn 3. 16) and our desire to reciprocate that love back towards God. It is a love that even in its human context stems from God, and runs through him. In his Four Loves, Lewis creates distinctions between love, dividing it into affection, friendship, eros and charity (agape). He describes the first three as natural loves, and makes the statement that, “the natural loves are not self-sufficient,” in that they can be exhausted; as Lewis goes on to put it, “Something else, at first vaguely described as “decency and common sense,” but later revealed as goodness, and finally as the whole Christian life in one particular relation, must come to the help of the mere feeling if the feeling is to be kept sweet.” Put another way, God's love must be lived and supported through relationship with God if it is to be sustained.

The second theological virtue is hope. It is not hope in a secular sense. Anyone can hope there will be good weather, but in this sense they are merely expressing a preference. Christian hope is a certainty that is given to us by God’s presence in our lives and the promise of redemption made through Jesus Christ that will lead to true life with God. It stands in opposition to certain forms of secular nihilism that see pointlessness and necessarily despair as inherent parts of the human condition. This dichotomy is truly realised when you ask if such a thing as Christian nihilism is possible, and by definition it is not. Christianity is a religion of hope; hope for a future in which the sin and destruction of the world will be no more.

Holding this hope in our hearts and minds is one of the great virtues of Christianity. Not simply because it can help lead to a more positive outlook on life, but also because of the inspiration such hope provides to lead a good life in the present while we aspire to the greatness of the future. It is the Christian hope that was inspiration for many great reforms throughout the centuries as CS Lewis notes:

If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next The Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished the Slave Trade, all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven.

It is this desire to live the Godly life that is encapsulated in the virtue of Christian hope. Not mere hope, but a transforming demeanour that encourages Christians to do good and bring the King of Heaven nearer to perfection on Earth.

The final theological virtue is faith. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church describes it:

Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he is truth itself. By faith “man freely commits his entire self to God.” For this reason the believer seeks to know and do God’s will. “The righteous shall live by faith.” Living faith “work[s] through charity.”

Lewis notes that there is something deeper to faith that purely belief in God, and the Catechism begins to note this as well. In speaking of believing in God and what he has said, the Catechism refers in one manner or another to a decision of faith based on reason. You weigh the evidence for and against faith in God and come to your conclusion. While it is possible new evidence may ultimately occur that challenges your faith, it is not reason that is the primary opponent of faith, but generally our emotions and personal desires. Consider for a moment someone for whom tragedy strikes. In a moment of anger over what has happened, they may convince themselves that their faith was misplaced. Or even if there is some situation in which their faith is inconvenient, they may be tempted to simply say it is so. Lewis describes this as the challenge of holding on to your faith, once decided by reason, in the face of changing moods. “That is why Faith is such a necessary virtue: unless you teach your moods “where they get off,” you can never be either a sound Christian or even a sound atheist, but just a creature dithering to and fro, with its beliefs really dependent on the weather and the state of its digestion.” In this, he speaks to a truth which can also be particularly difficult for Christians, for whom they can accept God, but ultimately only on their own terms in which their faith conforms God to what they find comfortable, easy or preferable. If your doctrines are not sound, if you allow them to waver based on mood and ease and preference, your faith is weak; it is only partially there in that you accept only in some form that God exists, but perhaps miss the second part noted in the Catechism, that you accept what he has said and revealed to us.

It is for this reason that true faith, as described in the Catechism and by Lewis, is so essential as a Christian virtue. In this treatment of the virtues, it has been approached in the reverse order from that provided by St Paul, even though he cites agape love as the greatest of the three. The virtues build upon one another. It is possible to have some form of faith without hope, but it is not possible to have hope without faith. In presenting them in reverse order, the hope is that it is easier to see the essential need for a foundation in firm faith, in order to allow hope and charity to flourish.

The Wisdom of Saints: St Bernard of Clairvaux

The Feast of Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, France, Doctor and Poet, 1153

O GOD, who by thy Holy Spirit hast given unto one man a word of wisdom, and to another a word of knowledge, and to another the gift of tongues: We praise thy Name for the gifts of grace manifested in thy servant Bernard, and we pray that thy Church may never be destitute of the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

St Bernard of Clairvaux was a 12th century French abbot. Born to a noble family in 1090, he received an excellent quality education during which he developed a love of reading Holy Scripture. Still at a young age, he became concerned with avoiding the snares and temptations of worldly life, and felt drawn to an ascetic and monastic lifestyle that would help him avoid that. Upon the death of his mother, he joined a relatively newly formed monastic order. It followed a reformed version of the Benedictine rules, and the Order became known as the Cistercians due to their founding at Cîteaux Abbey. In his early years at Cîteaux he impressed his monastic superiors with his devotion and spiritual growth, and was soon sent, with a dozen other monks, to Clairvaux Abbey where he was soon appointed Abbot.

In his career as Abbot of Clairvaux, he founded a number of other Cistercian monasteries and wrote a number of works which survive to this day. While he is perhaps today most famous for his writings, in the 12th century he was a well-known figure throughout the Church and in particular in France where he resided and was involved in defending the Church against the state and becoming involved in some of the political struggles of the Church, as well becoming a standard bearer for the Second Crusade throughout France and Germany at the request of Pope Eugene III, a fellow Cistercian. The failure of the Second Crusade led to a decline in Bernard’s reputation, and he died soon after in 1153. His reputation recovered after his death, however, and he was canonized in 1174 and made a Doctor of the Church, recognized as a Teacher of the Faith in the Anglican tradition, in 1830.

One of his key works was De diligendo Dei (On Loving God) which discussed the nature of love, God’s love for man, the debt of love owed to God and why we ought to love Him, and is perhaps best remembered for his introduction of the concept of the four degrees of love, which describes the pilgrimage which all Christians proceed through in their growing love for God.

In the first degree of love, man loves oneself for self’s sake. St Bernard summarizes this love thusly:

because love is natural, it is only right to love the Author of nature first of all. Hence comes the first and great commandment, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.' But nature is so frail and weak that necessity compels her to love herself first; and this is carnal love, wherewith man loves himself first and selfishly, as it is written, 'That was not first which is spiritual but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual,' (I Cor. 15. 46).

In this natural order, man does not truly know God, and therefore is stuck at the base level of loving himself before being able progress towards loving the Author of love, as St Bernard puts it. St Bernard goes even further, suggesting that this stage is not only natural but almost required. He argues that when in times of trouble we call upon the Lord for strength, we ultimately come to glorify him for answering our call. “loving only himself, begins to love God by reason of that very self-love; since he learns that in God he can accomplish all things that are good, and that without God he can do nothing.”

As is alluded to, this leads to the second degree of love, love of God for self’s sake. Even the hardest heart, contends St Bernard, would become “softened by the goodness of such a Savior, so that he would love God not altogether selfishly, but because He is God?” Put otherwise, the distinction between the first and second degrees of love is always for self’s sake, but during the first degree one has not yet begun to shift love of self to love of God for what he has done.

It is the third degree of love in which love becomes love of God for God’s sake, rather than our own. As St Bernard puts it, “Whosoever praises God for His essential goodness, and not merely because of the benefits He has bestowed, does really love God for God's sake, and not selfishly.” More simply, the third degree of love comes when we love God for who He is and not merely because of what He has done for us.

The fourth, and final, degree of love is loving oneself for God’s sake. This is a simple and contemporary translation of St Bernard’s four degrees, but interestingly a more direct translation taken straight from the chapter title would read, “the fourth degree of love: wherein man does not even love self save for God's sake.” This degree of love is perhaps the most difficult to understand when just viewing the summary, but St Bernard’s meaning is clear in his own explanation:

In Him should all our affections centre, so that in all things we should seek only to do His will, not to please ourselves. And real happiness will come, not in gratifying our desires or in gaining transient pleasures, but in accomplishing God's will for us: even as we pray every day: 'Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven' (Mt. 6. 10)

The fourth degree of love comes when we truly turn our lives to God such that we love Him unconditionally and, “trampling down,” as St John Chrysostom’s Divine Liturgy says, “all carnal desires, we may enter upon a spiritual manner of living, thinking and doing such things as are well pleasing to [God].” The love of oneself comes not for any remotely selfish purpose, but rather it is a reflection of God’s unconditional love for us which is reflected through our imperfect attempt at unconditional love for Him.

Through his four degrees of love, St Bernard of Clairvaux displays both his insights into the nature of love and human nature itself. He provides us with a standard and roadmap by which we can judge our own degree of love for God and guide ourselves to a deeper love of Him.