Joe Versus the Volcano: Like a deer that longs for springs of water...

Thursday, 30 September 2010

Like a deer that longs for springs of water...

Today is the feat of St Jerome, described by Mike Aquilina as The Great Name-Caller and Doctor Cantankerous - one of the crankiest of the Church Fathers, but also one of the greatest.

The following is a taste of a longer extract over at my other blog, Enlarging the Heart.

Like a deer that longs for springs of water...they long for the springs of the Church: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

We can find the Father described as a spring in Jeremiah: They have abandoned me, the fountain of living water, to dig themselves leaky cisterns that cannot hold water.

About the Son we read somewhere: They have forsaken the fountain of wisdom.

Finally, of the Holy Spirit: Anyone who drinks the water that I shall give will have a spring inside him, welling up to eternal life.

Here the evangelist is saying that the words of the Saviour come from the Holy Spirit. So you see it very clearly confirmed that the springs that water the Church are the mystery of the Trinity.

More here...

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Cyril of Alexandria

"After Christ had completed his mission on earth, it still remained necessary for us to become sharers in the divine nature of the Word. We had to give up our own life and be so transformed that we would begin to live an entirely new kind of life that would be pleasing to God. This was something we could do only by sharing in the Holy Spirit....When the time came for Christ to ascend to his heavenly Father, it was necessary for him to be united through his Spirit to those who worshipped him, and to dwell in our hearts through faith."

Basil of Caesarea

"Just as when a sunbeam falls on bright and transparent bodies, they themselves become brilliant too, and shed forth a fresh brightness from themselves, so souls wherein the Spirit dwells, illuminated by the Spirit, themselves become spiritual, and send forth their grace to others. Hence comes foreknowledge of the future, understanding of mysteries, apprehension of what is hidden, distribution of good gifts, the heavenly citizenship, a place in the chorus of angels, joy without end, abiding in God, the being made like to God, and, highest of all, the being made God."

Benedict of Nursia

"We believe that the divine presence is everywhere and that ‘the eyes of the Lord are looking on the good and the evil in every place’. But we should believe this especially without any doubt when we are assisting at the Work of God. To that end let us be mindful always of the Prophet's words ‘Serve the Lord in fear’, and again, ‘Sing praises wisely’, and ‘In the sight of the Angels I will sing praise to Thee’. Let us therefore consider how we ought to conduct ourselves in the sight of the Godhead and of His Angels, and let us take part in the psalmody in such a way that our mind may be in harmony with our voice."