Wednesday of the
Fifth Week of Easter Year 11
First Reading
From the Acts of the Apostles (18:1-28) Acts 18:9-10; Exodus 4:12'
Responsory
The Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: Have no fear.
- Speak out and do not be silent, for I am with you. alleluia.
I will help you speak and teach you what to say. - Speak
out and ...
Second Reading
From The Life in
Christ by Nicholas Cabasilas (Lib, 4: PG 150, 582-583)
Cabasilas teaches that
the sacraments of Christian initiation are the sources of the-divine life in us.
In this passage he develops especially the theology of the eucharist as the
mystery of a real and intimate union with Christ
After. receiving tire sacrament of confirmation, we
approach the holy table, the consummation of our life in Christ, which leaves no
further happiness to be desired Now it is no longer a question of sharing in
Christ's death or burial or in a higher kind of life, but of welcoming the
risen Lord himself. It is no longer the gifts of the Spirit that we receive,
insofar as we are able, but our benefactor himself, the very temple that
enshrines all gifts.
Christ is present in each of the sacraments: he himself
confirms us and cleanses us, and he is our food He is present to those
receiving the sacraments of initiation. though in different ways. In baptism he
takes away the stain of sin and imprints his own image on the baptized. In
confirmation he brings into action the gifts of the Holy Spirit, of which his
own flesh is the repository. But when he leads communicants to his table and
gives them his body to eat he completely transforms them, raising them to his
own level This is the last sacrament we receive because it is impossible to go
beyond it or to add to it anything whatever.
We remain imperfect even after baptism has produced in us
its full effect because we have not yet received the gifts of the Holy Spirit,
which are given in confirmation Those baptized by Philip did not receive the
Holy Spirit simply by the grace of baptism: it was necessary for John and Peter
to lay their hands on them As Scripture says, the Holy Spirit had not yet
come down on any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord
Jesus. Then Peter and John laid their hands on them and they received the Holy
Spirit.
Yet even among those who had been filled with the Spirit
and who prophesied. spoke in tongues and displayed other such gifts, there were
some in the time of the apostles who were so far from being divine and
spiritual as to be guilty of envy, rivalry, contention. and other similar
vices. This is what Paul referred to when he wrote to them: You are still
unspiritual and are living on a purely human plane. They were indeed
spiritual by reason of the graces they had received. but these graces did not
suffice to free them from all sinfulness.
With the eucharist, however, it is different No such charge
can be brought against those in whom the bread of life, which has saved them
from death, has had its full effect and who have not brought to this feast any
wrongful dispositions. If this sacrament is fully effective it is quite
impossible for it to allow the slightest imperfection to remain in those who
receive it
If you would know the reason for this, it is because
through communion. in fulfillment of his promise, Christ dwells in us and we in
him He lives in me, he said. and I in him. When Christ lives
in us, what can we lack? When we live in Christ what more can we desire? He
dwells in us and he is our dwelling place. How blessed are we to have him for
our dwelling place! How blessed to have become the dwelling place of such a
guest! We at once become spiritual in body and soul and in all our faculties
because our soul is united to his soul, our body to his body, our blood to his
blood. The consequence is that the higher prevails over the lower, the divine
over the human As Paul says, referring to the resurrection: What is mortal is swallowed up by life. And elsewhere he writes: It is no longer I who live: it is Christ who lives in me
Responsory
John 15:5;
Galatians 2:20 Jesus said to his disciples: .
Whoever lies in me with me in him. brings
forth much fruIt
- Without me you can do nothing, alleluia
I live now no longer my own life,
but the life of Christ who lives in
me.
- Without me you can do nothing,
alleluia.
NICHOLAS CABASILAS (b.1322/23) was a native of Thessalonica After receiving
an excellent education. first at Thessalonica and then in Constantinople, he
entered the imperial service, in which for ten years he played a prominent part
After the deposition in 1354 of his friend. the emperor John YI Cantacuzenos, Cabasilas
entered the Manganon monastery near Constantinople, and probably became a
priest This was the period of his greatest literary output, his two principal
works being The Life in Christ and A Commentary on the Divine Liturgy,
both of which were written for lay people. The kernel of Cabasilas'
teaching, which was praised by the Council of Trent and by Bossuet, is the
Christian'S deification by means of the sacraments. Cabasilas died some time
after the capture of Thessalonica by the Turks in 1387.
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ENLARGING THE HEARThttp://enlargingtheheart.wordpress.com/category/eastern-orthodox/nicholas-cabasilas/
Nicholas Cabasilas: “It Is No Longer I Who Live: It Is Christ Who Lives In Me”Saturday, May 5 2012
Nicholas Cabasilas Blessed Sacrament, Christ, death, deification, Eucharist, Holy Spirit, in Christ, indwelling, life, resurrection, sacraments, supernatural life 9:31 am
We approach the Holy Table, the consummation of our life in Christ, which leaves no further happiness to be desired.
Now it is no longer a question of sharing in Christ’s death or burial or in a higher kind of life, but of welcoming the risen Lord himself.
- - -
As Paul says, referring to the Resurrection: What is mortal is swallowed up by life.
And elsewhere he writes: It is no longer I who live: it is Christ who lives in me.
Nicholas Cabasilas (1319/1323–after 1391): The Life in Christ, 4 (PG 150:582-583); from the Monastic Office of Vigils, Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Eastertide, Year 2
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