George MacDonald — September 18

Europe, The Modern Era (1227-1936)

Bible connection

Read Ephesians 3

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. — Ephesians 3:20-21

All about George MacDonald (1824-1905)

In very truth, a wise imagination, which is the presence of the spirit of God, is the best guide that man or woman can have; for it is not the things we see the most clearly that influence us the most powerfully; undefined, yet vivid visions of something beyond, something which eye has not seen nor ear heard, have far more influence than any logical sequences whereby the same things may be demonstrated to the intellect. It is the nature of the thing, not the clearness of its outline, that determines its operation. We live by faith, and not by sight. — George MacDonald, A Dish of Orts

George MacDonald, who died on September 18, 1905, spent his life putting this quote into practice. He was a prolific writer, constantly trying to light up the imagination and the hearts of his readers, to open up their spiritual sight. He consistently created scenarios in his fiction in which God’s love and the New Creation could be encountered from a new angle. He asked “What if?” and followed it far beyond the conventional wisdom of his day. He banked on what could not be described and for that many consider him a mystic.

He loved exploring the character of God’s Fool. He created countless characters and circumstances that helped us to see ordinary things with new eyes. In many novels and stories he imagines a person who knows the foolishness of Christ so intuitively and completely that they just can’t fit into the norms of various British societies (often his home, Scotland).  They are misunderstood almost to the point of absurdity, which delivers many plot twists and much inspiration for those of us wishing to be invasive separatists in our own time and place. Examples of this fool include, Sir Gibbe in the book by the same name, who is really the quintessential example; also Donal Grant’s mother in Donal Grant; David Elginbrod, the title character of his first novel; Ruby in The Back of the North Wind; and Dawtie in The Elect Lady.

PhantastesThe spiritual adventurer is the main character of his most well known fantasies, Phantastes and Lilith.  There is a sequence at the end of Lilith which imagines heaven in such a beautiful, extended way it seems impossible. The protagonist wakes from his vision, reflects on his journey through the land of the dead to this beautiful heaven and wonders, “Was it a dream or a real journey and does that matter?”

MacDonald cites imagination as a source for faith. Believing our dreams to be given by God we can touch the truest nature of things that often lies beyond the perceptible.

In moments of doubt I cry,
“Could God Himself create such lovely things as I dreamed?”
“Whence then came thy dream?” answers Hope.
“Out of my dark self, into the light of my consciousness.”
“But whence first into thy dark self?” rejoins Hope.
“My brain was its mother, and the fever in my blood its father.”
“Say rather,” suggests Hope, “thy brain was the violin whence it issued, and the fever in thy blood the bow that drew it forth.—But who made the violin? and who guided the bow across its strings? Say rather, again—who set the song birds each on its bough in the tree of life, and startled each in its order from its perch? Whence came the fantasia? and whence the life that danced thereto? Didst THOU say, in the dark of thy own unconscious self, ‘Let beauty be; let truth seem!’ and straightway beauty was, and truth but seemed?”
Man dreams and desires; God broods and wills and quickens.
When a man dreams his own dream, he is the sport of his dream; when Another gives it him, that Other is able to fulfill it.

Princesses, witches, goblins and fairies abound in his fairy tales, for which he is probably most well known.

MacDonald says “For my part, I do not write for children, but for the childlike, whether of five, or fifty, or seventy-five.” His stories provide us with courage and loyalty for our own impossible tasks. The allegories between the fantastic world he paints and the spiritual world he perceives are thick and rich enough to walk on barefooted beyond the edge of your familiar spiritual paths. The tenderness of his language, though old fashioned and often even in the Scotch language (did you know there was a distinct Scotch dialect?) are difficult enough to be all consuming, intellectually and spiritually. They are worth the effort.

A less-known element of MacDonald’s life but one of his major occupations for 12 years was traveling with his family as itinerant performers of Dramatic Illustrations. His wife, Louisa saw these performances as her calling. During their first tour in 1877 he played Greatheart in their recasting of Bunyan’s famous Pilgrims Progress focused on the second part in which Christiana and her family follow her husband, Christian.  He wrote to her that Fall in the spirit of their acting, “I have once of twice been tempted to feel abandoned ——in this messy and struggling house——-But it is only a touch of the Valley of Humiliation—-of the Hill of difficulty rather. ” [Christian History]

More

All of MacDonald’s works are in the public domain and can be read for free at Project Gutenberg. Also, LibriVox has recorded dozens of his works in audio format, many of which you can find in your podcast app.

Here is an extensive fan page

Check out this great video that eloquently introduces his mysticism and his impact:

This entry emphasized MacDonald’s imaginative works but his Unspoken Sermons is among the best of the gold mine of really good theology he wrote in several collections of sermons. [Another collection with an introduction]

What do we do with this?

Put a novel on your reading list, even if MacDonald is not your cup of tea.

Where does your imagination find a home? What goodness can you dream? What did you actually dream last night while you were sleeping? All of these are sometimes neglected, or underappreciated sources of revelation. Practice trusting beyond the intellect.

Perhaps you can grasp at revelation with your own art⁠—language or otherwise. Share that feeling that is hard to describe. Attempt to illustrate God’s glory.

Hildegard of Bingen — September 17

Europe, Forerunners (33-1226)
Hildegard von Bingen.jpg
Portrait based on her visions

Bible connection

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows—was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, or because of these surpassingly great revelations. — 2 Corinthians 12:2-7

All about Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)

Hildegard of Bingen lived from September 16, 1098 to September 17, 1179. She has been called by her admirers “one of the most important figures in the history of the Middle Ages,” and “the greatest woman of her time.” Her time was the century of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Peter Abelard and Bernard of Clairvaux, the time of the rise of the great universities and the building of Chartres cathedral.

At a time when few women wrote for publication, Hildegard produced major works of theology and visionary writings. When few women were accorded respect, she advised bishops, popes, and kings. She used the curative powers of natural objects for healing, and wrote treatises about natural history and medicinal uses of plants, animals, trees and stones. She is the first composer of music whose biography is known. She founded a vibrant convent, where her musical plays were performed.

Revival of interest in this extraordinary woman of the middle ages has recently been initiated by musicologists and historians of science and religion. Her music also attracts “new age” followers. Now students of medieval history and culture are also likely to give her a proper place in their studies.

Hildegard was the daughter of a knight. When she was eight years old she went to the Benedictine monastery at Mount St. Disibode to be educated. The monastery was in the Celtic tradition, and housed both men and women (in separate quarters). When Hildegard was eighteen, she became a nun. Twenty years later, she was made the head of the female community at the monastery. Within the next four years, she had a series of visions, and devoted the ten years from 1140 to 1150 to writing them down, describing them (including pictures of what she had seen, as on this page), and commenting on their interpretation and significance. During this period, Pope Eugenius III sent a commission to inquire into her work. The commission found her teaching orthodox and her insights authentic, and reported so to the Pope, who sent her a letter of approval (or her legacy might have been different since people in her own time thought her visions might come from the devil). She wrote back urging the Pope to work harder for reform of the Church.

Hildegard’s mandela-like vision of choruses of angels surrounding God, who is depicted as a white space, signifying that the divine cannot be captured by an image

The community of nuns at Mount St. Disibode grew and there was adequate room. So Hildegard moved the community to a location near Bingen, and founded a monastery for them completely independent of the double monastery they had left. She oversaw its construction, which included such features as water pumped in through pipes (not routine in her day). The abbot they had left opposed their departure, and the resulting tensions took a long time to heal.

Hildegard traveled throughout southern Germany and into Switzerland and as far as Paris, preaching. Her sermons deeply moved the hearers, and she was asked to provide written copies.

In the last year of her life, Hildegard was briefly in trouble because she provided Christian burial for a young man who had been excommunicated. Her defense was that he had repented on his deathbed, and received the sacraments. Her convent was subjected to an interdict, which meant communion could not be served on their site. But she protested eloquently, and the interdict was eventually lifted shortly before she died.

Her surviving works include more than a hundred letters to emperors and popes, bishops, nuns, and nobility. Many persons of all classes wrote to her, asking for advice, and one biographer calls her “the Dear Abby of the twelfth century.”

She wrote 72 works of song, including a play set to music. Musical notation had only shortly before developed to the point where her music was recorded in a way that we can read today. Accordingly, some of her work is now available, and presumably sounds the way she intended.

She left us about seventy poems and nine books. Two of the books of medical and pharmaceutical advice, dealing with the workings of the human body and the properties of various herbs. She also wrote a commentary on the Gospels and another on the Athanasian Creed. Her major works are three books on theology: Scivias (“Know the paths!” ), De Operatione Dei (Book of Divine Works). and Liber Vitae Meritorum (on ethics) The first two explore the material in her visions. The visions, as she describes them, are often enigmatic but deeply moving, and many who have studied them believe that they have learned something from them that is not easily put into words.

Quote

Listen: there was once a king sitting on his throne. Around Him stood great and wonderfully beautiful columns ornamented with ivory, bearing the banners of the king with great honor. Then it pleased the king to raise a small feather from the ground, and he commanded it to fly. The feather flew, not because of anything in itself but because the air bore it along. Thus am I, a feather on the breath of God.

More

Much more at the International Society of Hildegard von Bingen Studies [link]

Fan page. Imitation is the surest form of flattery: Hildegarde von Blingin’

Short Bio in honor of becoming a “doctor” of the Catholic church.

The story behind Scivias and pictures! [link]

Three minute bio done with pictures!

What do we do with this?

What made Hildegard great was more than her genius. It was her prayer. Her visions matched those of Paul the Apostle’s (as seen in today’s reading). They motivated her as they motivated Paul. Prayer made her irrepressible.

What derives from your prayer? There is no substitute to devotion to knowing God and receiving Spirit to spirit. Try Meditations with Hildegard of Bingen by Gabriele Uhlein.

Cyprian — September 16

Africa, Forerunners (33-1226)
Cyprian with his martyr’s crown. Mosaic in the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna (Click for more info)

Bible Connection  

For this reason I kneel before the Father,  from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,  and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. — Ephesians 3:14-4:6

Cyprian of Carthage (ca. 200-258)

Thascius Caecilius Cyprianus was the bishop of Carthage and an early Christian writer of Berber descent. Many of his Latin writings are extant. 

Cyprian was born into a wealthy family, probably in Carthage, in present-day Tunisia. He took the additional name Caecilius in memory of the pastor to whom he owed his conversion. Before then, he was a leading member of a legal fraternity, an orator, a “pleader in the courts,” and a teacher of rhetoric (persuasive communication). He came to faith as an adult, being  baptized when he was thirty-five years old.

In the early days of his faith, he wrote Epistola ad Donatum de gratia Dei (Letter to Donatus concerning God’s grace):

When I was still lying in darkness and gloomy night, I used to regard it as extremely difficult and demanding to do what God’s mercy was suggesting to me… I myself was held in bonds by the innumerable errors of my previous life, from which I did not believe I could possibly be delivered, so I was disposed to acquiesce in my clinging vices and to indulge my sins… But after that, with the help of the water of new birth, the stain of my former life was washed away, and a light from above, serene and pure, was infused into my reconciled heart… a second birth restored me to a new man. Then, in a wondrous manner, every doubt began to fade… I clearly understood that what had first lived within me, enslaved by the vices of the flesh, was earthly and that what, instead, the Holy Spirit had wrought within me was divine and heavenly.

Not long after his baptism he was ordained a deacon and soon afterwards a priest (presbyter/elder). Sometime between July 248 and April 249, he was elected bishop of Carthage. That was a popular choice among the poor who remembered his generosity.  However, his rapid rise did not meet with the approval of some senior members of the church leaders in Carthage.

Not long after Cyprian became bishop, a great crisis for the Church arose. Emperor Decius (249–251) issued a decree in 250 that all citizens must perform public sacrifice to the Roman gods. But for Christians, to offer sacrifices—sprinkling incense before a statue of the god or goddess—was idolatry. In fact it was apostasy, the denial or betrayal of Christ. Some Christians refused to sacrifice and were imprisoned or executed.

Potentially Novatian

Cyprian avoided martyrdom by going into hiding. He directed church affairs in secret. After the persecution died down, he faced a great pastoral question: what to do with the “lapsed” Christians, the ones who had performed the required sacrifice but who now wanted to be welcomed back as upright members of the Christian community. Some church leaders believed performing the sacrifice was unforgivable. Others were willing to accept the repentance of the lapsed and take them back into communion. Cyprian wanted to wait for a council of all the North African bishops to discuss the question. But a presbyter from North Africa named Novatian, who was one of the premier theologians at the time, teaching in Rome, refused his guidance. He and his allies began issuing letters of pardon according to their very strict idea of permanent penance, causing division in the church. Novatian had refused to sacrifice and was imprisoned. He claimed the way he endured persecution gave him the authority to forgive (or not). Some people think his attitude makes him the first Protestant.

During the Decian persecution, Pope Fabian was martyred. The persecution was so fierce  it was impossible to elect a successor, so the papal seat remained vacant for a year. During this period the church was governed by several presbyters, including Novatian.  When it became possible to confer, the bishops elected a moderate, Cornelius, to be Pope, overlooking Novatian. His faction persisted with a more rigorous position than Cornelius, and consecrated Novatian as pope in 251. He is known as the first anti-pope, competing with the duly-elected one, seating alternative bishops and sending out papal letters. He  was excommunicated shortly afterwards, but the schismatic church he established persisted for several centuries.

In the Easter season of 251, when the council finally met, Cyprian’s address to it did not focus on the lapsed, but on the division Novatian created; it survives as On the Unity of the Catholic Church. Cyprian argued that, although the devil wages external war on the church through persecution, the more dangerous threat comes from the deceptive war he wages through heresy and division. Although made up of many individual congregations, the church is one: “The Church, bathed in the light of the Lord, spreads her rays throughout the world, yet the light everywhere diffused is one light and the unity of the body is not broken.”

For Cyprian, the universal church’s unity was not a mere aspiration, but a fundamental reality. And how could one identify the one true church? He found the answer in the doctrine of apostolic succession, arguing that the authority to forgive sins, preach the gospel, and govern the church given to a bishop at ordination is ultimately derived from Christ and the apostles. Since Christ gave the authority to forgive sins to Peter and the other apostles, the only bishops who had that authority were those who received it in the line of apostolic succession. Those who claimed to be bishops outside this authority did not have the power to forgive sins. Since Novatian and his fellow leaders had set themselves up in authority rather than being consecrated as bishops at the hands of other bishops in the line of succession, he did not have the true authority of a bishop and certainly not as the pope.

Ultimately, the North African bishops sided with Cyprian. They allowed the lapsed back into communion if they sincerely repented, though at first those who had participated in heathen sacrifices were only allowed back upon their deathbed. Lapsed clergy could not resume their functions. Novatian’s fate is unknown. He may have died in the outbreak of terror that came under the next Emperor.

As if enough were not going on, about this time a plague spread through the Empire. One of the reasons we know about it is Cyprian’s writings. In De Mortatiltate he writes:

 This trial, that now the bowels, relaxed into a constant flux, discharge the bodily strength; that a fire originated in the marrow ferments into wounds of the fauces; that the intestines are shaken with a continual vomiting; that the eyes are on fire with the injected blood; that in some cases the feet or some parts of the limbs are taken off by the contagion of diseased putrefaction; that from the weakness arising by the maiming and loss of the body, either the gait is enfeebled, or the hearing is obstructed, or the sight darkened;–is profitable as a proof of faith. What a grandeur of spirit it is to struggle with all the powers of an unshaken mind against so many onsets of devastation and death! what sublimity, to stand erect amid the desolation of the human race, and not to lie prostrate with those who have no hope in God; but rather to rejoice, and to embrace the benefit of the occasion; that in thus bravely showing forth our faith, and by suffering endured, going forward to Christ by the narrow way that Christ trod, we may receive the reward of His life and faith according to His own judgment!”

In 256 persecution resumed under the new emperor, Valerian. Pope Sixtus II was executed in Rome. In Africa, Cyprian prepared his people for the expected edict of persecution by his letter to them: De exhortatione martyrii. He also set an example for them, personally, when he was brought before the Roman proconsul in 257. He refused to sacrifice to the Roman deities and firmly expressed his faith.

The proconsul banished him to Curubis, now Korba. When a year had passed, he was recalled and kept under house arrest. A more stringent imperial edict arrived, which demanded the execution of Christian leaders. In September of 258, Cyprian was imprisoned on the orders of the new proconsul. His public examination has been  preserved:

Galerius Maximus: “Are you Thascius Cyprianus?”
Cyprian: “I am.”
Galerius: “The most sacred Emperors have commanded you to conform to the Roman rites.”
Cyprian: “I refuse.”
Galerius: “Take heed for yourself.”
Cyprian: “Do as you are bid; in so clear a case I may not take heed.”
Galerius, after briefly conferring with his judicial council, with much reluctance pronounced the following sentence: “You have long lived an irreligious life, and have drawn together a number of men bound by an unlawful association, and professed yourself an open enemy to the gods and the religion of Rome; and the pious, most sacred and august Emperors … have endeavored in vain to bring you back to conformity with their religious observances; whereas therefore you have been apprehended as principal and ringleader in these infamous crimes, you shall be made an example to those whom you have wickedly associated with you; the authority of law shall be ratified in your blood.” He then read the sentence of the court from a written tablet: “It is the sentence of this court that Thascius Cyprianus be executed with the sword.”
Cyprian: “Thanks be to God.”

The execution was carried out at once in an open place near the city. A huge crowd followed  in Cyprian’s final steps. He blindfolded himself before he was beheaded.

More

Nice video from the Orthodox side of the one Church: https://youtu.be/RIlBWG5BkpQ

A somewhat different view of Cyprian’s life from the Franciscans [link].

A well written, more complete account from a great website: the Dictionary of African Christian Biography.

St. Cyprian Church on 63rd St. in Philadelphia [link].

What do we do with this?

Like in Cyprian’s time, the church in the U.S. recently went through a plague then got in a fight over stringency and leniency. Only in our time some think it is apostasy to jettison the faith handed down by the hierarchy regarding sexuality and others think the unity of the church depends on grace that transcends the teaching of men. What would Cyprian do?

In Cyprian’s time, the Church was finding a way to organize as it grew and needed to hold together. We can’t be too thrilled he came up with apostolic succession, since it has regularly been abused. The theory ended up being about the power of violence and not inspiration. But there is some basic Bible teaching associated with it (John 20:21, Matthew 18:15-18). At least Cyprian knew his authority was not just to rule but to die, like Jesus.

Cyprian’s two great contributions are 1) an attempt to be generous, but firm, and 2) talking about the big picture instead of getting tangled in an immediate, personality-driven conflict. He also put his life on the line to lead. People who aspire to exercise power, take note.

John Chrysostom — September 14

Asia, Forerunners (33-1226)

Bible connection

Through him you have confidence in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere love of the brethren, love one another earnestly from the heart. You have been born anew, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for

“All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers, and the flower falls,
but the word of the Lord abides for ever.”

That word is the good news which was preached to you. —1 Peter 1:21-25

All about John Chrysostom (c. 349 – 407)

John of Antioch was nicknamed Χρυσόστομος (Chrysostomos, anglicized as Chrysostom), which means “golden-mouthed” in Greek, because he was famous for being eloquent. He not only preached frequently, he was also among the most prolific authors in the early Church. He is known as one of the “church fathers.” As Archbishop of Constantinople (seat of the Roman Empire at the time) he was known for his denunciation of abuse of authority by both church and political leaders, as well as his emphasis on worship and prayer.  

John was raised in Antioch, a leading intellectual center of his day, by his widowed mother, Anthusa. She was a devoted Jesus follower. His tutor, Libanius, was not a Jesus follower but was a famous rhetorician who had taught in both Athens and Constantinople.

After his education, like many devout men of his day, the spidery John (he was short, thin, and long-limbed) entered monastic seclusion. His ascetic practice was so strenuous, he damaged his health. He was forced to return to public life. He quickly went from lector to deacon to priest at the church in Antioch.

In Antioch, Chrysostom’s preaching began to be noticed, especially after what has been called the “Affair of the Statues.” In the spring of 388, a rebellion erupted in Antioch over the announcement of increased taxes. Statues of the emperor and his family were desecrated. Imperial officials responded by punishing city leaders, killing several. Archbishop Flavian rushed to Constantinople, over 800 miles away, to beg the emperor for mercy. In Flavian’s absence, John preached to the terrified city: “Improve yourselves now truly, not as when during one of the numerous earthquakes or in famine or drought or in similar visitations you leave off your sinning for three or four days and then begin the old life again.”

When Flavian returned eight weeks later with the good news of the emperor’s pardon, John’s reputation soared. From then on, he was in demand as a preacher. He preached through many books of the Bible, though he had his favorites: “I like all the saints, but St. Paul the most of all—that vessel of election, the trumpet of heaven.” In his sermons, he denounced abortion, prostitution, gluttony, the theater, and swearing. About the love of horse racing, he complained,

“My sermons are applauded merely from custom, then everyone runs off to [horse racing] again and gives much more applause to the jockeys, showing indeed unrestrained passion for them! There they put their heads together with great attention, and say with mutual rivalry, ‘This horse did not run well, this one stumbled,’ and one holds to this jockey and another to that. No one thinks any more of my sermons, nor of the holy and awesome mysteries that are accomplished here.”

His large bald head, deeply set eyes, and sunken cheeks reminded people of Elisha the prophet. Though his sermons (which lasted between 30 minutes and two hours) were well attended, he sometimes became discouraged:

“My work is like that of a man who is trying to clean a piece of ground into which a muddy stream is constantly flowing.” At the same time, he said, “Preaching improves me. When I begin to speak, weariness disappears; when I begin to teach, fatigue too disappears.”

In early 398, John was seized by soldiers and taken to the capital, where he was forcibly consecrated as archbishop of Constantinople. His kidnapping was arranged by a government official who wanted to adorn the church in the capital city with the Church’s best orator. Rather than rebelling against the injustice, John accepted it as God’s providence. And rather than soften his words for his new and prestigious audience—which now included many from the imperial household—John continued with the themes he preached in Antioch. He railed against abuses of wealth and power. Even his lifestyle itself was a scandal: he lived an ascetic life, using his considerable household budget to care for the poor and build hospitals.

He continued preaching against the great public sins. In a sermon against the theater, for example, he said,

“Long after the theater is closed and everyone is gone away, those images [of ‘shameful women’ actresses] still float before your soul, their words, their conduct, their glances, their walk, their positions, their excitation, their unchaste limbs … And there within you she kindles the Babylonian furnace in which the peace of your home, the purity of your heart, the happiness of your marriage will be burnt up!”

His lack of tact and political skill made him many enemies, both in the imperial family and among fellow bishops. For complex reasons, Theophilus, the archbishop of Alexandria, was able to call a council outside of Constantinople and trump up charges of heresy against John. He was deposed and sent into exile by Empress Eudoxia and Emperor Arcadius. He was taken across the plains of what is now Turkey in the heat of summer, and almost immediately his health began to fail. He was visited by loyal followers, and wrote letters of encouragement to others:

“When you see the church scattered, suffering the most terrible trials, her most illustrious members persecuted and flogged, her leader carried away into exile, don’t only consider these events, but also the things that have resulted: the rewards, the recompense, the awards for the athlete who wins in the games and the prizes won in the contest.”

On the eastern shore of the Black Sea, at the edges of the empire, his body gave out and he died.

Thirty-four years later, after John’s chief enemies had died, his relics were brought back in triumph to the capital. Emperor Theodosius II, son of Arcadius and Eudoxia, publicly asked forgiveness for the sins of his parents. John was later given the title “Doctor of the Church” because of the value of his writings (600 sermons and 200 letters survive).

Quotes:

  • “It is foolishness and a public madness to fill the cupboards with clothing and allow men who are created in God’s image and likeness to stand naked and trembling with cold, so that they can hardly hold themselves upright.
    Yes, you say, he is cheating and he is only pretending to be weak and trembling. What! Do you not fear that lightning from Heaven will fall on you for this word? Indeed, forgive me, but I almost burst from anger.
    Only see, you are large and fat, you hold drinking parties until late at night, and sleep in a warm, soft bed. And do you not think of how you must give an account of your misuse of the gifts of God?” — 21st homily on 1 Corinthians
  • A comprehended god is no God.
  • Hell is paved with priests’ skulls.
  • Slander is worse than cannibalism.
  • You received your fortune by inheritance; so be it! Therefore, you have not sinned personally, but how know you that you may not be enjoying the fruits of theft and crime committed before you?—Epist. i. ad Tim., 12
  • Let all partake of the feast of faith. Let all receive the riches of goodness. Let no one lament their poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed. Let no one mourn their transgressions, for pardon has dawned from the grave. Let no one fear death, for the Savior’s death has set us free.
  • As it is not to be imagined that the fornicator and the blasphemer can partake of the sacred Table, so it is impossible that he who has an enemy, and bears malice, can enjoy the holy Communion. I forewarn, and testify, and proclaim this with a voice that all may hear! ‘Let no one who hath an enemy draw near the sacred Table, or receive the Lord’s Body! Let no one who draws near have an enemy! Do you have an enemy? Draw not near! Do you wish to draw near? Be reconciled, and then draw near, and touch the Holy Thing!’…We are commanded to have only one enemy, the devil. With him never be reconciled! But with a brother, never be at enmity in thy heart. —Homilies on the Statues, Homily XX

More

Bio and recitation of “The Resurrection” in this video

One of his famous works: Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom

Works online [link]

John is very controversial for some of his teaching that goes against modern sensibilities:

What do we do with this?

Maybe John was writing for posterity, but that is doubtful. Most of us would not want all our writings collected and then dissected by later generations. What we said in our 20’s might not match what we said in our 40’s! Had John lived, he might have changed some of his views.

Most of what you think and say is probably worth hearing, however. You may not have a golden tongue, but you should probably speak up with what you’ve got. John’s fearlessness made him influential for Jesus.

Johnny Cash — September 12

North America, This century (1937-2025)
Johnny Cash Pondering — Michelle Dick

Bible connection

The Spirit of God came on Azariah son of Oded. He went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach and without the law. But in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them. In those days it was not safe to travel about, for all the inhabitants of the lands were in great turmoil. One nation was being crushed by another and one city by another, because God was troubling them with every kind of distress. But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.” — 2 Chronicles 15:1-7

All about Johnny Cash (1932-2003)

John R. “Johnny” Cash born February 26, 1932. He is widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century and is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 90 million records worldwide. Although primarily remembered as a country music icon, his genre-spanning songs and sound embraced rock and roll, rockabilly, blues, folk, and gospel. His crossover appeal won Cash the rare honor of being inducted into the Country Music, Rock and Roll, and Gospel Music Halls of Fame.

Cash was known for his deep, calm bass-baritone voice, a rebelliousness coupled with an increasingly somber and humble demeanor, free prison concerts, and his trademark attire, which earned him the nickname “The Man in Black.” He traditionally began his concerts with the simple “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash,” followed by his signature Folsom Prison Blues.

Much of Cash’s music echoed themes of sorrow, moral tribulation and redemption, especially in later life. During the last stage of his career, Cash covered songs by several late 20th century rock artists, most notably Hurt by Nine Inch Nails (video below).

Cash was raised by his parents as a Southern Baptist. He was baptized in 1944 in the Tyronza River as a member of the Central Baptist Church of Dyess, Arkansas.

A troubled but devout Christian, Cash has been characterized as a “lens through which to view American contradictions and challenges.” He wrote a Christian novel, Man in White, which showcases his theological studies. It is is a portrait of six pivotal years in the life of the apostle, Paul. In the introduction Cash writes about a reporter who, once tried to paint him into a corner, baiting him to acknowledge a single denominational persuasion at the center of his heart. Finally, Cash laid down the law: “I—as a believer that Jesus of Nazareth, a Jew, the Christ of the Greeks, was the Anointed One of God (born of the seed of David, upon faith as Abraham has faith, and it was accounted to him for righteousness)—am grafted onto the true vine, and am one of the heirs of God’s covenant with Israel….I’m a Christian. Don’t put me in another box.”

He made a spoken word recording of the entire New King James Version of the New Testament. Cash declared he was “the biggest sinner of them all”, and viewed himself overall as a complicated and contradictory man. Accordingly, Cash is said to have “contained multitudes,” and has been deemed “the philosopher-prince of American country music.”

Cash’s daughter, singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash, once pointed out that “My father was raised a Baptist, but he has the soul of a mystic. He’s a profoundly spiritual man, but he readily admits to a continual attraction for all seven deadly sins.”

“There’s nothing hypocritical about it,” Johnny Cash told Rolling Stone author Anthony DeCurtis. “There is a spiritual side to me that goes real deep, but I confess right up front that I’m the biggest sinner of them all.” To Cash, even his near deadly bout with drug addiction contained a crucial spiritual element. “I used drugs to escape, and they worked pretty well when I was younger. But they devastated me physically and emotionally—and spiritually … [they put me] in such a low state that I couldn’t communicate with God. There’s no lonelier place to be. I was separated from God, and I wasn’t even trying to call on him. I knew that there was no line of communication. But he came back. And I came back.”

“Being a Christian isn’t for sissies,” Cash said once. “It takes a real man to live for God—a lot more man than to live for the devil, you know? If you really want to live right these days, you gotta be tough.”

What’s more, he was intimately aware of the hard truths about living God’s way: “If you’re going to be a Christian, you’re going to change. You’re going to lose some old friends, not because you want to, but because you need to.”

”I’m thrilled to death with life,” he told Larry King during an interview. “Life is—the way God has given it to me—was just a platter. A golden platter of life laid out there for me. It’s been beautiful.”

“I don’t give up … and it’s not out of frustration and desperation that I say ‘I don’t give up.’ I don’t give up because I don’t give up. I don’t believe in it.”

What do we do with this?

Johnny Cash was a celebrity, which usually equals trouble. He had plenty of trouble. But he also had plenty of conviction that lasted his whole life. In many ways he is an “everyman” who stubbornly tried to do his best, often standing with the downtrodden. Notably, he risked his career early on to speak out on behalf of Native Americans. He used his capabilities and his notoriety for more than his own pleasure and profit.

Cash sang these words in one of his last songs, “Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down,” recorded in 2003 in the final months of his life and released posthumously in 2010: “When I hear that trumpet sound, I’m gonna rise right out of the ground. Ain’t no grave can hold my body down. … Well, meet me, Jesus, meet me. Meet me in the middle of the air. And if these wings don’t fail me, I will meet You anywhere.”

Can you sing that?

If you can’t be held down, what can you do?

Peter Claver — September 8

South America, The Modern Era (1227-1936)
By Raul Berzosa for the Chapel of Our Lady of Bethlehem at the Belen Jesuit Prep School, Miami, FA

Bible connection

Christ Jesus, who, though he existed in the form of God,
    did not regard equality with God
    as something to be grasped,
but emptied himself,
    taking the form of a slave,
    assuming human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a human,
     he humbled himself
    and became obedient to the point of death—
    even death on a cross. — Philippians 2:5-8

All about Peter Claver (1580-1654)

Peter Claver came from Spain to the docks in Cartagena (now in Colombia) shortly after his training for the priesthood was completed. He was ordained there in 1615. He worked with Alfonso de Sandoval, a priest who dedicated more than forty years of his life to ministering to enslaved people. Sandoval wrote the earliest record of Black Africans in the Spanish Colonies. Peter not only took up his mentor’s mantle, he called himself “Petrus Claver, Aethiopum servus,” or “Peter Claver, slave of the Africans.”

Cartagena was a wealthy center for the slave trade. Ten thousand slaves poured into the port each year after crossing the Atlantic from West Africa under conditions so foul and inhuman that an estimated one-third of the passengers died in transit.

As soon as a slave ship entered the port, Peter Claver moved into its infested hold to minister to the ill-treated and exhausted passengers. After the slaves were herded out of the ship like animals and shut up in nearby pens to be inspected, Claver plunged in among them with medicines, food, bread, brandy, lemons, and tobacco (see this excerpt of a letter he wrote).

The life Peter Claver chose to lead defied convention. When others shrank back in repulsion, he extended his hands in love. When others avoided situations for fear of filth and feces, he bravely entered into the darkness of sickness and death with the light of Christ. What others thought of as wasted time resulted in the baptism of over 300,000  people during his ministry.

Peter Claver ventured into the places no one wanted to go, and he did the work that no one thought anyone should do. And no one could stop him. One of the great feats he completed was learning the languages of the enslaved people in order to bring them the Gospel. Claver worked with seven interpreters, one of them spoke four African dialects. With their help, he  taught the Gospel with words that could be understood. He would also use pictures in his teaching, primarily images of the crucified Christ. He sought ways for discarded people to know their dignity and worth, and they learned how deeply they were loved despite their circumstances. The image of the Suffering Servant giving his life said it all.

He said, “We must speak to them with our hands before we try to speak to them with our lips.”

Claver’s work extended beyond his care for slaves. He became a moral force in Cartagena; some said he was the “apostle” of the city. He preached in the city square, organizing the mass with sailors and traders he recruited from the ships along with the country folk coming for the markets. He avoided the hospitality of the planters and owners and lodged in the slave quarters instead.

In 1650, after dedicating nearly forty years of his life to ministering to enslaved and devalued people, Claver became ill during a virulent epidemic and nearly lost his life. After he recovered, he was still bedridden and in pain for the remaining four years of his life. He was largely forgotten and neglected as the unrelenting plague swept through.

Just a few days after another priest came to take up the mantle of ministering to the suffering Africans, Peter Claver died. It was as if he knew, while bedridden, his work was not being done until a successor arrived. It is even reported that he gathered strength to rise from his bed to greet his replacement. Upon his passing, those who had ridiculed him and mocked his ministry as “a waste” gave him a lavish state funeral.

More

This nice biography is also a spirited defense of human rights as a Catholic inspiration, not the province of a few white men, many who owned slaves (that would be you, Thomas Jefferson):

The history of St. Peter Claver Church Philadelphia (closed 2023) is interesting and a little sad. [Archdiocese site]

The Knights of Peter Claver  was organized in 1909 in Mobile, Alabama. It is the largest and oldest Black Catholic lay-led organization still in existence. It was modeled after other Catholic fraternal orders such as the Knights of Columbus, who at the time did not allow Black members in all of their councils. Here is a video of their centennial mass in 2009:

The Roman Catholic Church commemorates St. Peter Claver on September 9 instead of on his death day. It could be because Mary’s birthday has been on September 8 since the 6th Century when St. Anne’s Church was built on a site in Jerusalem where she was purportedly born.

What do we do with this?

Worldwide, there are still men and women who are being treated as objects. There are also those who have tragically forgotten or have never understood their dignity and their worth. There are many who are sick without aid or relief. There are many who are dying alone. We are all longing for the same message Peter Claver brought to the slaves from Africa: “You are loved, you are unrepeatable, and you have dignity and purpose.”

This snippet from the Forum of Christian Leadership also shows that human rights is a concept that begins with Christian thinkers. If you can’t outthink the present influencers of our day, you can support people who can. Otherwise, Peter Thiel and the like will buy all the politicians and the airwaves to sell a vision for a society in which only his kind can win [video].

Louis Francescon — September 7

North America, South America, The Modern Era (1227-1936)

Bible connection

Look at the proud!
Their spirit is not right in them,
but the righteous live by their faithfulness.–– Habakkuk 2:4

All about Luigi (Louis) Franscescon (1866-1964)

Luigi Francescon was born in an Italian farming village named Cavasso Nuovo, not far from what is now the Slovenian border. His family faced hard times. Their poverty was compounded by the need to pay tribute to the village overlord. Though only educated to the sixth grade, Francescon overcame his poverty by perfecting his craft as a mosaicist. He then joined the military and earned enough to emigrate to the United States.

He arrived in Chicago on March 3, 1890. There he heard the preaching of Michele Nardi the Italian immigrant evangelist and left Catholicism for interdenominational Protestant faith. Together with Waldensians Teofilo Gay and Filippo Grill, also connected with Nardi, Francescon helped found the First Italian Presbyterian Church of Chicago. He soon left the Presbyterians, however, because infant baptism did not make sense to him. The evangelist, Giuseppe Beretta, led him to embrace adult baptism by immersion and rebaptized him. A new church formed under Beretta’s leadership, meeting in homes, including Francescon’s.

On August 25, 1907, during a visit to William H. Durham’s North Avenue Mission, only blocks away from his home, Francescon was baptized in the Spirit. Durham’s mission had become the center for a revival influenced by the outpouring at Azusa Street in Los Angles. Durham had been a skeptic until he visited Azusa Street and spoke in tongues.

With fellow Pentecostal pioneer Pietro Ottolini, Francescon stood for several years at the helm of an awakening at the Italian Grand Avenue Mission, which later took the name the Assemblea Cristiana (Christian Assembly). Francescon helped steer the church through several years of doctrinal turbulence (over issues such as the Sabbath), while continuing to stand firmly against further attempts to “organize” the work. However, when the future of the Italian American Pentecostal movement depended on it, he relented to the demand to structure the church along doctrinal and missional lines. He was thus among the chief founders and original overseers of the Christian Church of North America, the flagship denomination of the movement — later the CCUS or Christian Congregation in the United States. There is a congregation in Philadelphia at 1900 Ripley in Rhawnhurst.

Francescon also founded congregations in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and St. Louis, often leaving his wife and six children in the care of the church.

Alongside his pioneering work on the North American front, Francescon is also counted among the most prominent of the founders of Pentecostal work in South America.  Accompanied by Giacomo Lombardi and Lucia Menna from the Chicago Mission, in late 1909 Francescon embarked on a missionary trip to family and friends in Argentina. His own report, and the historical memory of the churches he founded, attest to his evangelism being accompanied by healings and various miracles. In the city of San Cayetano, Francescon was arrested and stood trial. Upon his release, he was forbidden to ever preach there again.

Present mother church of Congregação Cristã no Brasil in Bras, Sao Paulo. 50,000+ temples in 78 countries with over 3 million members.

Francescon’s life-defining work still lay ahead. Among the Italian diaspora in Brazil he founded the Congregação Cristã no Brasil (Portuguese for Christian Congregation in Brazil). This church became the mother of a global denomination. In March of 1910 he arrived in São Paulo. One of his first contacts there was Vincenzo Pievani, an atheist. Pievani brought him to his home in San Antonio da Platina where Francescon conducted a fruitful outreach among the Roman Catholic population. His success attracted the attention of a local priest. The priest reportedly plotted to have Francescon killed, sparking Francescon’s escape and return to São Paulo. There he witnessed to a number of Presbyterians, Methodists, and Roman Catholics, who left their parishes and joined the fledgling Pentecostal movement. He delivered a homily in Italian at a Presbyterian church in the Italian barrio known as the Brás, urging the congregation to seek the baptism in the Spirit. The eldership fervidly disapproved of both the manner and language Francescon used to deliver the sermon. Ordered to leave the congregation, Francescon carried a large number away with him and founded an independent congregation. The church became the linchpin for the Congregação Cristã, which remains to this day one of the largest Pentecostal denominations in Brazil.

In 1911, William Durham reported that Francescon had left for Italy to evangelize his home region. “It was never our privilege to meet a more blessed and powerful man of God”, he wrote. “He is certainly doing, as it were, the work of an Apostle”.

Over his lifetime, Francescon made nine trips from his home church in Chicago to Brazil. Although he made no monetary demands, the Congregação Cristã funded his last two trips. Even until his death in 1964, at 96, and completely blind, Francescon continued to send letters of encouragement to the Pentecostal work he founded in Brazil.

More

Nice Wikipedia page.

Explorations in Italian Protestantism has been much referenced above. Here is Francescon’s page.

At the CCUS website, they have included their founder’s testimony.

Are you familiar with Family Search? Here is Luigi’s page.

This is in Portuguese, but the pictures give some nice background:

What do we do with this?

The Pentecostal movement has made a huge impact on Brazil and all of South America.  It felt wild to the Presbyterians Francescon left behind. Ironically, the denomination he founded reportedly lost more than 200,000 adherents leading into the 21st century due to their inability to adapt to the times. Their prophecy was overcome by the order Francescon resisted. It makes us think how we can be stuck in our ways and irrelevant, even though what got our churches started was also passion and selfless work.

In the mid-20th century, 90% of Brazilians identified as Catholics.  Recent estimates suggest the percentage is closer to 50%. The Wikipedia page outlines the expansion.  If you are an American, you might not be aware of  anything on that page. But you might run into one of the Brazilian missionaries called to serve in your godless backyard.  The Family Church Brazil has been in Frankford for over 5 years.  What do you think about living in a mission field?

Madeleine L’Engle — September 6

North America, This century (1937-2025)
L’Engle and Granddaughters, 1976

Bible connection

Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish. But we speak God’s wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written,

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
    nor the human heart conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—

these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual. — 1 Corinthians 2:6-13

All about Madeleine L’Engle (1918 – 2007)

“A Wrinkle in Time
saved me because it so captured the grief and sense of isolation
I felt as a child. I was eight years old when it came out, in third grade,
and I believed in it—in the plot, the people and the emotional truth
of their experience. This place was never a good match for me,
but the book greatly diminished my sense of isolation as great books
have done ever since. I must have read it a dozen times.”
—Anne Lamott

Formidable in personality and far-ranging in accomplishments, Madeleine L’Engle wrote more than 60 books, including novels, poetry, memoir, essays, sermons, commentaries, and creative nonfiction. She is best known for A Wrinkle in Time, the first novel in the Time Quintet, but she may be best loved for Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art, her breathtaking opus on the creative process. In it, she writes, “We live by revelation, as Christians, as artists, which means we must be careful never to get set into rigid molds. The minute we begin to think we know all the answers, we forget the questions.”

L’Engle refused to be forced into “either/or.” Her life and work reflect her determination: Icon and Iconoclast, Sacred and Secular, Faith and Science, Religion and Art, Fact and Fiction. She showed a clear preference for risk over certainty, narrative over affirmation, and questions over answers.

L’Engle’s refusal to be pigeonholed had a tumultuous effect on her life and career. The mixed reception of A Wrinkle in Time is one example. Wrinkle is clearly, unequivocally Christian, enough to make non-religious readers squirm. Lois Lowry, a celebrated children’s author, has expressed doubt that the book would even be published today. “In the world of literature, Christianity is no longer respectable,” wrote L’Engle. “When I am referred to in an article or a review as a ‘practicing Christian,’ it is seldom meant as a compliment.”

But censorship of her work from Christian critics has been just as ferocious. A Wrinkle in Time has been labeled “spiritual poison” and banned by believers who accuse her of promoting witchcraft, goddess worship, divination, and a host of similar heresies. Similar criticism was aimed at C. S. Lewis. Both have been denounced by people of faith, scorned by the literati, and banned from libraries. Both worked as lay evangelists and apologists. Both reclaimed myth and championed the arts. Both wrote in multiple genres, and both remain notoriously difficult to categorize.

Another comparison is important to share. Both Lewis and L’Engle wrote in reaction to the prevailing assumptions of modernism. Biographer Sarah Arthur observes:

To combat [modernist assumptions], Lewis mined back into the riches of tradition—the ancient myth of Cupid and Psyche for his novel Till We Have Faces, for instance, or from Plato and Aristotle’s universal moral law in The Abolition of Man—in order to glean insights about God and human nature that had been dismissed or forgotten. L’Engle, by contrast, pressed forward into the mysteries of scientific discovery. …She engaged science to show just how small, how relative, how limited our view of God has been in light of the wonders of an astonishing universe.

Although she once considered herself an atheist, after L’Engle became a Christian she had a daily practice of reading the Bible and praying. Her granddaughter said L’Engle’s coming to her faith was a slow “acceptance of what she had always known to be true,” rather than a sudden conversion moment. “She was a Christian because she was deeply rooted in its traditions and language, and she was moved by and trusted in its stories.” Although L’Engle did not like denominational labels, she mostly attended Episcopal churches, serving for four decades as a librarian and writer-in-residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.

Quotes:

Image result for madeleine l'engle

  • If we are willing to live by Scripture, we must be willing to live by paradox and contradiction and surprise.
  • Faith is what makes life bearable, with all its tragedies and ambiguities and sudden, startling joys.
  • The great thing about getting older is that you don’t lose all the other ages you’ve been.
  • You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.
  • Maybe you have to know the darkness before you can appreciate the light.
  • Some things have to be believed to be seen.
  • I will have nothing to do with a God who cares only occasionally. I need a God who is with us always, everywhere, in the deepest depths as well as the highest heights. It is when things go wrong, when good things do not happen, when our prayers seem to have been lost, that God is most present. We do not need the sheltering wings when things go smoothly. We are closest to God in the darkness, stumbling along blindly.

More

Interesting PBS show on L’Engle [link]

A video (one of a set) on L’Engle talking about faith and doubt. [link]

Hollywood made sure there was little God and certainly no Jesus in the movie:

What do we do with this?

L’Engle loved the childlike qualities, still resident in all of us, that could be called upon to meet the wonder of being creatures of a loving God. We have offered her quote to our churches during Advent, even making art from the quote: This is the irrational season, when love blooms bright and wild. / Had Mary been filled with reason, there’d have been no room for the child.

As you explore her work, even the little snippets on this page, let yourself be full of the child, both child and Child. She spent her life meditating for us and provides a wonderful resource for our own deeper journey. Slow down with her and let yourself go deeper.

Teresa of Kolkata — September 5

Asia, Europe, This century (1937-2025),

Bible connection

Read Matthew 25:31-46

Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?”

The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

All about Mother Teresa

Teresa of Kolkata introduced herself by saying, ”By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus.” She was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu on August 26, 1910 in Skopje, which was then part the Ottoman Empire (now capital of the Republic of North Macedonia). She took her first religious vows in 1931, her solemn vows in 1937 while teaching in Calcutta (the now-corrected anglicization is Kolkata).

In 1936, while traveling through India, Sister Teresa received her call to help the poor while living among them. She began a new work in 1948. She had already learned Bengali, but she went further. She made her ”habit” a white sari with blue trim and became an Indian citizen while getting some basic medical training. In 1950, she began an order that became the Missionaries of Charity with 13 nuns (now over 5,000 worldwide). In 1952, she converted an old Hindu temple into the first Home for the Dying, a site for free hospice care. She died of heart problems in 1997 after being a prolific fund raiser, Nobel Peace Prize Winner, missionary, author, and advocate for the global poor.

“In the West we have a tendency to be profit-oriented, where everything is measured according to the results and we get caught up in being more and more active to generate results. In the East—especially in India—I find that people are more content to just be, to just sit around under a banyan tree for half a day chatting to each other. We Westerners would probably call that wasting time. But there is value to it. Being with someone, listening without a clock and without anticipation of results, teaches us about love. The success of love is in the loving—it is not in the result of loving. ”—from A Simple Path: Mother Teresa

More

Video at Nobel Prize.org [link]

Interview with Malcolm Muggeridge and Mother Teresa. Muggeridge’s book Something Beautiful for God and film made Teresa famous. [link]

An article about the letters that reveal her “dark night:” Mother Teresa: A Saint Who Conquered Darkness

Video from Kenyan TV upon her sainthood ceremony. [link]

What do we do with this?

It is amazing how Mother Teresa, a small, simple woman from India, managed all the media attention devoted to her. She spoke to powerful people with an undiluted gospel message of love. Literally millions of people were enriched.

Consider her example. Do you think you need to be respected by famous people to be successful? Or are you content to pick up the dying and do what you can do? Rest in Christ for a minute and be simple—nothing more or less than who you are, dependent on Jesus, embraced by love.

Aidan of Lindisfarne — August 31

Europe, Forerunners (33-1226),
Statue of Aidan on Lindisfarne, the Holy Island, with the castle in the background

Bible connection

For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps. —1 Peter 2:21

All about Aidan of Lindisfarne (ca. 600-651 ) 

“He cultivated peace and love, purity and humility; he was above anger and greed, and despised pride and conceit; he set himself to keep and teach the laws of God, and was diligent in study and in prayer…I greatly admire all these things about Aidan.” —the monk, The Venerable Bede, writing in his masterwork: “Ecclesiastical History of the English People” (3:17)

Aidan was an Irish, Celtic monk Living on the island of Iona (where The Book of Kells was later compiled). The community there was founded by Columba, the missionary instrumental in bringing the gospel to the Picts of northwestern Scotland. So Aidan’s faith was nurtured in a deep, missional community.

The apostolic work in what are now called the “British Isles” took an organic path. Many Britons followed Jesus long before the church took root in Ireland because Britain was part of the Roman Empire, unlike Ireland. Christianity first followed the trade routes of the Empire. Some of the missionaries who first took the faith to Ireland were British: Patrick was the most famous but not the only one.

When the power of Rome declined, a Germanic tribe called the Angles began to infiltrate Britain and gradually turned it into England (the word “English” comes from “Angle-ish”). These incoming English were pagans.

The kingdom of Northumbria was largely created by the English warrior-leader Aethelfrith. When he was killed in battle (in 616) his children fled into exile. Some of these children found their way to what is now Scotland. Here they met the Irish monks of Iona and joined in their Christian faith. Oswald, the second son of Aethelfrith, grew up determined to regain the throne of Northumbria and to let the pagans among his people hear about Jesus. In 633 he fought a successful battle and established himself as king, choosing Bamburgh, a natural outcrop of rock on the North-East coast, as his main fortress. He then invited the monks of Iona to send a missionary.

In 635 they sent Aidan with 12 other monks. They chose to settle on the island of Lindisfarne (Holy Island), just north of Bamburgh. An earlier missionary monk named Corman had given up on the Northumbrians, saying the people were too uncivilized and stubborn to be Christianized.

The monastery Aidan founded was said to be moderate — at least by the severe Irish standards of aceticism! From their magical island, which was inaccessible by land when the tide came in, the community went out on mission. Learning English as they went,  they used Aidan’s only method as a missionary. He walked the lanes, talked to all the people he met, got to know them and their needs, and interested them in the faith if he could. The monks became part of the community and soon their faith became part of it, too. Before long, the seeds they sowed became local Christian churches.

Aidan became known for refusing to ride a horse. Rightly so, he thought riding a horse made him look rich, since only the rich could afford a horse. It was easier and more effective to talk to people when you were on their level. One time King Oswin of the Angles gave Aidan an expensive horse, as befit the respect he had for him. Aidan had not ridden very far before he gave the horse away to a poor person. The king was angry with Aidan for doing this. Aidan asked him if a horse was more important to him than one for whom Christ had died. Oswin, who was a Christian, repented and asked his forgiveness.

Aidan freeing slaves
Aidan freeing slaves

Strongly opposed to slavery, Aidan spent much time and effort in ransoming slaves and sending them home.

Aidan did not want his efforts to die with him and the monks from Iona. English leadership was needed for the English church. So he started a school. First his students learned to read Latin —the language in which all the books they could obtain were written. Once the essentials of literacy had been grasped, the expansion of mental horizons was amazing. Books bridged the natural restrictions of time and space!

School began with the 150 Psalms and then went on to the four Gospels. After these essentials, the students could master as much as their library offered and their minds could hold. In Aidan’s time, this kind of education was only available to people in monastic schools. Aidan began with 12 boys, who learned the practical work of being monks, priests and missionaries by observing and working with the older monks. Their system had a powerful impact.

The monastery on the Holy Island was for men and boys only. This was not true everywhere. As the Christian faith spread in England, double monasteries were established. Under the rule of one leader, monks and nuns, girls and boys, lived and worked in the same establishment. But Lindisfarne was different in that it had been founded specifically to be the center for mission. Nuns did not walk the lanes and speak to people. Aidan made sure that it was possible in Northumbria for women to become nuns if they so wished. He discipled a woman who was to become the most famous abbess of her day named Hild. She became the abbess of double monasteries at Hartlepool and Whitby. Her contribution to the church was great; at least five of her students became bishops.

After sixteen years as bishop, Aidan died at Bamburgh in 651. We do not know his age. What he had achieved may not have been clear to him at his death but history showed the strong foundations he laid led to hundreds of successful years of church building, beginning with the first missionaries trained in his school, who succeeded in planting the Church in most of Anglo-Saxon England.

More

Beginners guide to Celtic Christianity from the Northumbria Community. [link]

Aidan is an Anglicized version of the Irish name Aodhán, derived from Aodh, meaning “fire.”  In 2022,  7799 boys in the UK were given that name

The Footsteps of Aidan video :

Prayer of St. Aidan (written in his honor)

Leave me alone with God as much as may be.
As the tide draws the waters close in upon the shore,
Make me an island, set apart,
alone with you, God, holy to you.

Then with the turning of the tide
prepare me to carry your presence to the busy world beyond,
the world that rushes in on me
till the waters come again and fold me back to you.

What do we do with this?

Aidan was a humble, dogged evangelist. His style was incarnational. His radical monks built their community among the people. They did not refuse the aid of powerful people, but they also put them in their place. Their approach was face-to-face and on foot, not from above but alongside. He was also strategic, handing down his leadership to people he prepared to exercise it. Lindisfarne deepened the whole area of Northumbria for centuries as a center of learning and faith.

Your church may have many similarities to Lindisfarne. From the “holy island” where you live you humbly present the truth of Jesus. May you have the strength to go back again and again, exercising your gentle influence, being integral friends in the community. What is your personal part in it all? Pray for strength and for the vision to be a community in mission.