St. Athanasius: teaching the One Word

Friday, May 3, 2013
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”
    —Luke 19:10 (NIV)
Quotation:
    [Continued from yesterday]
    Human and human-minded as men were, therefore, to whichever side they looked in the sensible world, they found themselves taught the truth. Were they awe-stricken by creation? They beheld it confessing Christ as Lord. Did their minds tend to regard men as gods? The uniqueness of the Savior’s works marked Him, alone of men, as Son of God. Were they drawn to evil spirits? They saw them driven out by the Lord, and learned that the Word of God alone was God and that the evil spirits were not gods at all. Were they inclined to hero-worship and the cult of the dead? Then the fact that the Savior had risen from the dead showed them how false these other deities were, and that the Word of the Father is the one true Lord, the Lord even of death. For this reason was He both born and manifested as Man, for this He died and rose, in order that, eclipsing by His works all other human deeds, He might recall man from all the paths of error to know the Father. As He says Himself, “I came to seek and to save that which was lost.”
    ... St. Athanasius (293?-373), The Incarnation of the Word of God [4th century], St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1996, XV, p. 43-44 (see the book)
    See also Luke 19:10; Matt. 9:12-13; 18:11; Luke 5:31-32; John 6:46; 14:7-9; Rom. 5:6; 1 Tim. 1:15; Heb. 7:25; 1 John 4:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, because of Jesus, we seek and embrace You as the one true God. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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