Posted on 02/29/2024 11:39:04 AM PST by annalex
Thursday of the 2nd week of Lent ![]() Crypt of Worcester Cathedral (11th century) Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Violet. Year: B(II).
A curse on the man who puts his trust in man and turns from the LordThe Lord says this: ‘A curse on the man who puts his trust in man, who relies on things of flesh, whose heart turns from the Lord. He is like dry scrub in the wastelands: if good comes, he has no eyes for it, he settles in the parched places of the wilderness, a salt land, uninhabited. ‘A blessing on the man who puts his trust in the Lord, with the Lord for his hope. He is like a tree by the waterside that thrusts its roots to the stream: when the heat comes it feels no alarm, its foliage stays green; it has no worries in a year of drought, and never ceases to bear fruit. ‘The heart is more devious than any other thing, perverse too: who can pierce its secrets? I, the Lord, search to the heart, I probe the loins, to give each man what his conduct and his actions deserve.’
Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord. Happy indeed is the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked; nor lingers in the way of sinners nor sits in the company of scorners, but whose delight is the law of the Lord and who ponders his law day and night. Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord. He is like a tree that is planted beside the flowing waters, that yields its fruit in due season and whose leaves shall never fade; and all that he does shall prosper. Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord. Not so are the wicked, not so! For they like winnowed chaff shall be driven away by the wind: for the Lord guards the way of the just but the way of the wicked leads to doom. Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory! I will leave this place and go to my father and say: ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.’ Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory! Blessed are those who, with a noble and generous heart, take the word of God to themselves and yield a harvest through their perseverance. Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
Dives and LazarusJesus said to the Pharisees: ‘There was a rich man who used to dress in purple and fine linen and feast magnificently every day. And at his gate there lay a poor man called Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to fill himself with the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. Dogs even came and licked his sores. Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. ‘In his torment in Hades he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off with Lazarus in his bosom. So he cried out, “Father Abraham, pity me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames.” “My son,” Abraham replied “remember that during your life good things came your way, just as bad things came the way of Lazarus. Now he is being comforted here while you are in agony. But that is not all: between us and you a great gulf has been fixed, to stop anyone, if he wanted to, crossing from our side to yours, and to stop any crossing from your side to ours.” ‘The rich man replied, “Father, I beg you then to send Lazarus to my father’s house, since I have five brothers, to give them warning so that they do not come to this place of torment too.” “They have Moses and the prophets,” said Abraham “let them listen to them.” “Ah no, father Abraham,” said the rich man “but if someone comes to them from the dead, they will repent.” Then Abraham said to him, “If they will not listen either to Moses or to the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead.”’ Christian Art![]() Each day, The Christian Art website gives a picture and reflection on the Gospel of the day. The readings on this page are from the Jerusalem Bible, which is used at Mass in most of the English-speaking world. The New American Bible readings, which are used at Mass in the United States, are available in the Universalis apps, programs and downloads. |
KEYWORDS: catholic; lk16; ordinarytime; prayer
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Luke | |||
English: Douay-Rheims | Latin: Vulgata Clementina | Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000) | |
Luke 16 | |||
19. | There was a certain rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen; and feasted sumptuously every day. | Homo quidam erat dives, qui induebatur purpura et bysso, et epulabatur quotidie splendide. | ανθρωπος δε τις ην πλουσιος και ενεδιδυσκετο πορφυραν και βυσσον ευφραινομενος καθ ημεραν λαμπρως |
20. | And there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus, who lay at his gate, full of sores, | Et erat quidam mendicus, nomine Lazarus, qui jacebat ad januam ejus, ulceribus plenus, | πτωχος δε τις ην ονοματι λαζαρος ος εβεβλητο προς τον πυλωνα αυτου ηλκωμενος |
21. | Desiring to be filled with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table, and no one did give him; moreover the dogs came, and licked his sores. | cupiens saturari de micis quæ cadebant de mensa divitis, et nemo illi dabat : sed et canes veniebant, et lingebant ulcera ejus. | και επιθυμων χορτασθηναι απο των ψιχιων των πιπτοντων απο της τραπεζης του πλουσιου αλλα και οι κυνες ερχομενοι απελειχον τα ελκη αυτου |
22. | And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. And the rich man also died: and he was buried in hell. | Factum est autem ut moreretur mendicus, et portaretur ab angelis in sinum Abrahæ. Mortuus est autem et dives, et sepultus est in inferno. | εγενετο δε αποθανειν τον πτωχον και απενεχθηναι αυτον υπο των αγγελων εις τον κολπον αβρααμ απεθανεν δε και ο πλουσιος και εταφη |
23. | And lifting up his eyes when he was in torments, he saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom: | Elevans autem oculos suos, cum esset in tormentis, vidit Abraham a longe, et Lazarum in sinu ejus : | και εν τω αδη επαρας τους οφθαλμους αυτου υπαρχων εν βασανοις ορα τον αβρααμ απο μακροθεν και λαζαρον εν τοις κολποις αυτου |
24. | And he cried, and said: Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, to cool my tongue: for I am tormented in this flame. | et ipse clamans dixit : Pater Abraham, miserere mei, et mitte Lazarum ut intingat extremum digiti sui in aquam, ut refrigeret linguam meam, quia crucior in hac flamma. | και αυτος φωνησας ειπεν πατερ αβρααμ ελεησον με και πεμψον λαζαρον ινα βαψη το ακρον του δακτυλου αυτου υδατος και καταψυξη την γλωσσαν μου οτι οδυνωμαι εν τη φλογι ταυτη |
25. | And Abraham said to him: Son, remember that thou didst receive good things in thy lifetime, and likewise Lazareth evil things, but now he is comforted; and thou art tormented. | Et dixit illi Abraham : Fili, recordare quia recepisti bona in vita tua, et Lazarus similiter mala : nunc autem hic consolatur, tu vero cruciaris : | ειπεν δε αβρααμ τεκνον μνησθητι οτι απελαβες συ τα αγαθα σου εν τη ζωη σου και λαζαρος ομοιως τα κακα νυν δε ωδε παρακαλειται συ δε οδυνασαι |
26. | And besides all this, between us and you, there is fixed a great chaos: so that they who would pass from hence to you, cannot, nor from thence come hither. | et in his omnibus inter nos et vos chaos magnum firmatum est : ut hi qui volunt hinc transire ad vos, non possint, neque inde huc transmeare. | και επι πασιν τουτοις μεταξυ ημων και υμων χασμα μεγα εστηρικται οπως οι θελοντες διαβηναι ενθεν προς υμας μη δυνωνται μηδε οι εκειθεν προς ημας διαπερωσιν |
27. | And he said: Then, father, I beseech thee, that thou wouldst send him to my father's house, for I have five brethren, | Et ait : Rogo ergo te, pater, ut mittas eum in domum patris mei : | ειπεν δε ερωτω ουν σε πατερ ινα πεμψης αυτον εις τον οικον του πατρος μου |
28. | That he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torments. | habeo enim quinque fratres : ut testetur illis, ne et ipsi veniant in hunc locum tormentorum. | εχω γαρ πεντε αδελφους οπως διαμαρτυρηται αυτοις ινα μη και αυτοι ελθωσιν εις τον τοπον τουτον της βασανου |
29. | And Abraham said to him: They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. | Et ait illi Abraham : Habent Moysen et prophetas : audiant illos. | λεγει αυτω αβρααμ εχουσιν μωσεα και τους προφητας ακουσατωσαν αυτων |
30. | But he said: No, father Abraham: but if one went to them from the dead, they will do penance. | At ille dixit : Non, pater Abraham : sed si quis ex mortuis ierit ad eos, pœnitentiam agent. | ο δε ειπεν ουχι πατερ αβρααμ αλλ εαν τις απο νεκρων πορευθη προς αυτους μετανοησουσιν |
31. | And he said to him: If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe, if one rise again from the dead. | Ait autem illi : Si Moysen et prophetas non audiunt, neque si quis ex mortuis resurrexerit, credent. | ειπεν δε αυτω ει μωσεως και των προφητων ουκ ακουουσιν ουδε εαν τις εκ νεκρων αναστη πεισθησονται |
(*) v27, "for I have five brethren" belongs to the next verse in Greek and Latin
19. There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
20. And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,
21. And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
BEDE. Our Lord had just before advised the making friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness, which the Pharisees derided. He next confirms by examples what he had set before them, saying, There was a certain rich man, &c.
CHRYSOSTOM. There was, not is, because he had passed away as a fleeting shadow.
AMBROSE. But not all poverty is holy, or all riches criminal, but as luxury disgraces riches, so does holiness commend poverty.
It follows, And he was clothed in purple and fine linen.
BEDE. (bysso.) Purple, the colour of the royal robe, is obtained from sea shells, which are scraped with a knife. Byssus is a kind of white and very fine linen.
GREGORY. (Hom. 40. in Ev.) Now if the wearing of fine and precious robes were not a fault, the word of God would never have so carefully expressed this. For no one seeks costly garments except for vainglory, that he may seem more honourable than others; for no one wishes to be clothed with such, where he cannot be seen by others.
CHRYSOSTOM. (ut sup.) Ashes, dust, and earth he covered with purple, and silk; or ashes, dust, and earth bore upon them purple and silk. As his garments were, so was also his food. Therefore with us also as our food is, such let our clothing be Hence it follows, And he fared sumptuously every day.
GREGORY. (Hom. 40. in Ev.) And here we must narrowly watch ourselves, seeing that banquets can scarcely be celebrated blamelessly, for almost always luxury accompanies feasting; and when the body is swallowed up in the delight of refreshing itself, the heart relaxes to empty joys.
It follows, And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus.
AMBROSE. This seems rather a narrative than a parable, since the name is also expressed.
CHRYSOSTOM. (ut sup.) But a parable is that in which an example is given, while the names are omitted. Lazarus is interpreted, “one who was assisted.” For he was poor, and the Lord helped him.
CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. Or else; This discourse concerning the rich man and Lazarus was written after the manner of a comparison in a parable, to declare that they who abound in earthly riches, unless they will relieve the necessities of the poor, shall meet with a heavy condemnation. But the tradition of the Jews relates that there was at that time in Jerusalem a certain Lazarus who was afflicted with extreme poverty and sickness, whom our Lord remembering, introduces him into the example for the sake of adding greater point to His words.
GREGORY. (Moral. 1. c. 8.) We must observe also, that among the heathen the names of poor men are more likely to be known than of rich. Now our Lord mentions the name of the poor, but not the name of the rich, because God knows and approves the humble, but not the proud. But that the poor man might be more approved, poverty and sickness were at the same time consuming him; as it follows, who was laid at his gale full of sores.
PSEUDO-CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. de Div.) He lay at his gate for this reason, that the rich might not say, I never saw him, no one told me; for he saw him both going out and returning. The poor is full of sores, that so he might set forth in his own body the cruelty of the rich. Thou seest the death of thy body lying before the gate, and thou pitiest not. If thou regardest not the commands of God, at least have compassion on thy own state, and fear lest also thou become such as he. But sickness has some comfort if it receives help. How great then was the punishment in that body, in which with such wounds he remembered not the pain of his sores, but only his hunger; for it follows, desiring to be fed with the crumbs, &c. As if he said, What thou throwest away from thy table, afford for alms, make thy losses gain.
AMBROSE. But the insolence and pride of the wealthy is manifested afterwards by the clearest tokens, for it follows, and no one gave to him. For so unmindful are they of the condition of mankind, that as if placed above nature they derive from the wretchedness of the poor an incitement to their own pleasure, they laugh at the destitute, they mock the needy, and rob those whom they ought to pity.
AUGUSTINE. (Serm. 367.) For the covetousness of the rich is insatiable, it neither fears God nor regards man, spares not a father, keeps not its fealty to a friend, oppresses the widow, attacks the property of a ward.
GREGORY. (in Ev. Hom. 40.) Moreover the poor man saw the rich as he went forth surrounded by flatterers, while he himself lay in sickness and want, visited by no one. For that no one came to visit him, the dogs witness, who fearlessly licked his sores, for it follows, moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
PSEUDO-CHRYSOSTOM. (ut sup.) Those sores which no man deigned to wash and dress, the beasts tenderly lick.
GREGORY. (ubi sup.) By one thing Almighty God displayed two judgments. He permitted Lazarus to lie before the rich man’s gate, both that the wicked rich man might increase the vengeance of his condemnation, and the poor man by his trials enhance his reward; the one saw daily him on whom he should shew mercy, the other that for which he might be approved.
16:22–26
22. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
23. And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
24. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
25. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
26. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.
PSEUDO-CHRYSOSTOM. (ubi sup.) We have heard how both fared on earth, let us see what their condition is among the dead. That which was temporal has passed away; that which follows is eternal. Both died; the one angels receive, the other torments; for it is said, And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels, &c. Those great sufferings are suddenly exchanged for bliss. He is carried after all his labours, because he had fainted, or at least that he might not tire by walking; and he was earned by angels. One angel was not sufficient to carry the poor man, but many come, that they may make a joyful band, each angel rejoicing to touch so great a burden. Gladly do they thus encumber themselves, that so they may bring men to the kingdom of heaven. But he was carried into Abraham’s bosom, that he might be embraced and cherished by him; Abraham’s bosom is Paradise. And the ministering angels carried the poor man, and placed him in Abraham’s bosom, because though he lay despised, he yet despaired not nor blasphemed, saying, This rich man living in wickedness is happy and suffers no tribulation, but I cannot get even food to supply my wants.
AUGUSTINE. (de Orig. Anim. 4. 16) Now as to your thinking Abraham’s bosom to be any thing bodily, I am afraid lest you should be thought to treat so weighty a matter rather lightly than seriously. For you could never be guilty of such folly, as to suppose the corporeal bosom of one man able to hold so many souls, nay, to use your own words, so many bodies as the Angels carry thither as they did Lazarus. But perhaps you imagine that one soul to have alone deserved to come to that bosom. If you would not fall into a childish mistake, you must understand Abraham’s bosom to be a retired and hidden resting-place where Abraham is; and therefore called Abraham’s, not that it is his alone, but because he is the father of many nations, and placed first, that others might imitate his preeminence of faith.
GREGORY. (in Hom. 40.) When the two men were below on earth, that is, the poor and the rich, there was one above who saw into their hearts, and by trials exercised the poor man to glory, by endurance awaited the rich man to punishment. Hence it follows, The rich man also died.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. 6. in 2 ad Cor.) He died then indeed in body, but his soul was dead before. For he did none of the works of the soul. All that warmth which issues from the love of our neighbour had fled, and he was more dead than his body. (Conc. 2. de Lazaro.). But no one is spoken of as having ministered to the rich man’s burial as to that of Lazarus. Because when he lived pleasantly in the broad road, he had many busy flatterers; when he came to his end, all forsook him. For it simply follows, and was buried in hell. But his soul also when living was buried, enshrined in its body as it were in a tomb.
AUGUSTINE. The burial in hell is the lowest depth of torment which after this life devours the proud and unmerciful.
PSEUDO-BASIL. (In Esai. 5.) Hell is a certain common place in the interior of the earth, shaded on all sides and dark, in which there is a kind of opening stretching downward, through which lies the descent of the souls who are condemned to perdition.
PSEUDO-CHRYSOSTOM. (Chrys. Op. imp, Hom. 53. Matt. 8:22, 25.) Or as the prisons of kings are placed at a distance without, so also hell is somewhere far off without the world, and hence it is called the outer darkness.
THEOPHYLACT. But some say that hell is the passing from the visible to the invisible, and the unfashioning of the soul. For as long as the soul of the sinner is in the body, it is visible by means of its own operations. But when it flies out of the body, it becomes shapeless.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Conc. 2. de Lazaro.) As it made the poor man’s affliction heavier while he lived to lie before the rich man’s gate, and to behold the prosperity of others, so when the rich man was dead it added to his desolation, that he lay in hell and saw the happiness of Lazarus, feeling not only by the nature of His own torments, but also by the comparison of Lazarus’s honour, his own punishment the more intolerable. Hence it follows, But lifting up his eyes, He lifted up his eyes that he might look on him, not despise him; for Lazarus was above, he below. Many angels earned Lazarus; he was seized by endless torments. Therefore it is not said, being in torment, but torments. For he was wholly in torments, his eyes alone were free, so that he might behold the joy of another. His eyes are allowed to be free that he may be the more tortured, not having that which another has. The riches of others are the torments of those who are in poverty.
GREGORY. (lib. 4. Mor. c. 29.) Now if Abraham sate below, the rich man placed in torments would not see him. For they who have followed the path to the heavenly country, when they leave the flesh, are kept back by the gates of hell; not that punishment smites them as sinners, but that resting in some more remote places, (for the intercession of the Mediator was not yet come,) the guilt of their first fault prevents them from entering the kingdom.
CHRYSOSTOM. (ad Hom. 2. in ep. Phil. Chrys. Conc. de Laz.) There were many poor righteous men, but he who lay at his door met his sight to add to his woe. For it follows, And Lazarus in his bosom. It may here be observed, that all who are offended by us are exposed to our view. But the rich man sees Lazarus not with any other righteous man, but in Abraham’s bosom. For Abraham was full of love, but the man is convicted of cruelty. Abraham sitting before his door followed after those that passed by, and brought them into his house, the other turned away even them that abode within his gate.
GREGORY. (Hom. 40. in Ev.) And this rich man forsooth, now fixed in his doom, seeks as his patron him to whom in this life he would not shew mercy.
THEOPHYLACT. He does not however direct his words to Lazarus, but to Abraham, because he was perhaps ashamed, and thought Lazarus would remember his injuries; but he judged of him from himself. Hence it follows, And he cried and said.
PSEUDO-CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. de Div.) Great punishments give forth a great cry. Father Abraham. As if he said, I call thee father by nature, as the son who wasted his living, although by my own fault I have lost thee as a father. Have mercy on me. In vain thou workest repentance, when there is no place for repentance; thy torments drive thee to act the penitent, not the desires of thy soul. He who is in the kingdom of heaven, I know not whether he can have compassion on him who is in hell. The Creator pitieth His creature. There came one Physician who was to heal all; others could not heal. Send Lazarus. Thou errest, wretched man. Abraham cannot send, but he can receive. To dip the tip of his finger in water. Thou wouldest not deign to look upon Lazarus, and now thou desirest his finger. What thou seekest now, thou oughtest to have done to him when alive. Thou art in want of water, who before despisedst delicate food. Mark the conscience of the sinner; he durst not ask for the whole of the finger. We are instructed also how good a thing it is not to trust in riches. (Chrys. Conc. 2. de Laz). See the rich man in need of the poor who was before starving. Things are changed, and it is now made known to all who was rich and who was poor. For as in the theatres, when it grows towards evening, and the spectators depart, then going out, and laying aside their dresses, they who seemed kings and generals are seen as they really are, the sons of gardeners and fig-sellers. So also when death is come, and the spectacle is over, and all the masks of poverty and riches are put off, by their works alone are men judged, which are truly rich, which poor, which are worthy of honour, which of dishonour.
GREGORY. (ut sup.) For that rich man who would not give to the poor man even the scraps of his table, being in hell came to beg for even the least thing. For he sought for a drop of water, who refused to give a crumb of bread.
BASIL. But he receives a meet reward, fire and the torments of hell; the parched tongue; for the tuneful lyre, wailing; for drink, the intense longing for a drop; for curious or wanton spectacles, profound darkness; for busy flattery, the undying worm. Hence it follows, That he may cool my tongue, for I am tormented in the flame.
CHRYSOSTOM. (ubi sup.) But not because he was rich was he tormented, but because he was not merciful.
GREGORY. We may gather from this, with what torments he will be punished who robs another, if he is smitten with the condemnation to hell, who does not distribute what is his own.
AMBROSE. He is tormented also because to the luxurious man it is a punishment to be without his pleasures; water is also a refreshment to the soul which is set fast in sorrow.
GREGORY. But what means it, that when in torments he desires his tongue to be cooled, except that at his feasts having sinned in talking, now by the justice of retribution, his tongue was in fierce flame; for talkativeness is generally rife at the banquet.
CHRYSOSTOM. His tongue too had spoken many proud things. Where the sin is, there is the punishment; and because the tongue offended much, it is the more tormented.
CHRYSOSTOM. Or, in that he wishes his tongue to be cooled, when he was altogether burning in the flame, that is signified which is written, Death and life are in the hands of the tongue, (Prov. 18:21.) and with the mouth confession is made to salvation; (Rom. 10:10.) which from pride he did not do, but the tip of the finger means the very least work in which a man is assisted by the Holy Spirit.
AUGUSTINE. (de Orig. Anim. 4. 16.) Thou sayest that the members of the soul are here described, and by the eye thou wouldest have the whole head understood, because he was said to lift up his eyes; by the tongue, the jaws; by the finger, the hand. But what is the reason that those names of members when spoken of God do not to thy mind imply a body, but when of the soul they do? It is that when spoken of the creature they are to be taken literally, but when of the Creator metaphorically and figuratively. Wilt thou then give us bodily wings, seeing that not the Creator, but man, that is, the creature, says, If I take not the wings in the morning? (Ps. 139:9.) Besides, if the rich man had a bodily tongue, because he said, to cool my tongue, in us also who live in the flesh, the tongue itself has bodily hands, for it is written, Death and life are in the hands of the tongue. (Prov. 18:21.)
GREGORY OF NYSSA. (Orat. 5. de Beat.) As the most excellent of mirrors represents an image of the face, just such as the face itself which is opposite to it, a joyful image of that which is joyful, a sorrowful of that which is sorrowful; so also is the just judgment of God adapted to our dispositions. Wherefore the rich man because he pitied not the poor as he lay at his gate, when he needs mercy for himself, is not heard, for it follows, And Abraham said unto him, Son, &c.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Conc. 2, 3. de Lazaro.) Behold the kindness of the Patriarch; he calls him son, (which may express his tenderness,) yet gives no aid to him who had deprived himself of cure. Therefore he says, Remember, that is, consider the past, forget not that thou delightedst in thy riches, and thou receivedst good things in thy life, that is, such as thou thoughtest to be good. Thou couldest not both have triumphed on earth, and triumph here. Riches can not be true both on earth and below. It follows, And Lazarus likewise evil things; not that Lazarus thought them evil, but he spoke this according to the opinion of the rich man, who thought poverty, and hunger, and severe sickness, evils. When the heaviness of sickness harasses us, let us think of Lazarus, and joyfully accept evil things in this life.
AUGUSTINE. (Quæst. Ev. Lib. ii. qu. 38.) All this then is said to Him because he chose the happiness of the world, and loved no other life but that in which he proudly boasted; but he says, Lazarus received evil things, because he knew that the perishableness of this life, its labours, sorrows, and sickness, are the penalty of sin, for we all die in Adam who by transgression was made liable to death.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Conc. 3. de Lazaro.) He says, Thou receivedst good things in thy life, (as if thy due;) as though he said, If thou hast done any good thing for which a reward might be due, thou hast received all things in that world, living luxuriously, abounding in riches, enjoying the pleasure of prosperous undertakings; but he if he committed any evil has received all, afflicted with poverty, hunger, and the depths of wretchedness. And each of you came hither naked; Lazarus indeed of sin, wherefore he receives his consolation; thou of righteousness, wherefore thou endurest thy inconsolable punishment; and hence it follows, But now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
GREGORY. (in Hom. 40.) Whatsoever then ye have well in this world, when ye recollect to have done any thing good, be very fearful about it, lest the prosperity granted you be your recompense for the same good. And when ye behold poor men doing any thing blameably, fear not, seeing that perhaps those whom the remains of the slightest iniquity defiles, the fire of honesty cleanses.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Conc. 3. de Lazaro.) But you will say, Is there no one who shall enjoy pardon, both here and there? This is indeed a hard thing, and among those which are impossible. For should poverty press not, ambition urges; if sickness provoke not, anger inflames; if temptations assail not, corrupt thoughts often overwhelm. It is no slight toil to bridle anger, to cheek unlawful desires, to subdue the swellings of vain-glory, to quell pride or haughtiness, to lead a severe life. He that doeth not these things, can not be saved.
GREGORY. (ubi sup.) It may also be answered, that evil men receive in this life good things, because they place their whole joy in transitory happiness, but the righteous may indeed have good things here, yet not receive them for reward, because while they seek better things, that is, eternal, in their judgment whatever good things are present seem by no means good.
CHRYSOSTOM. (in Conc. de Laz.) But after the mercy of God, we must seek in our own endeavours for hope of salvation, not in numbering fathers, or relations, or friends. For brother does not deliver brother; and therefore it is added, And beside all this between us and yon there is a great gulf fixed.
THEOPHYLACT. The great gulf signifies the distance of the righteous from sinners. For as their affections were different, so also their abiding places do not slightly differ.
CHRYSOSTOM. The gulf is said to be fixed, because it cannot be loosened, moved, or shaken.
AMBROSE. Between the rich and the poor then there is a great gulf, because after death rewards cannot be changed. Hence it follows, So that they who would pass from hence to you cannot, nor come thence to us.
CHRYSOSTOM. As if he says, We can see, we cannot pass; and we see what we have escaped, you what you have lost; our joys enhance your torments, your torments our joys.
GREGORY. (ubi sup.) For as the wicked desire to pass over to the elect, that is, to depart from the pangs of their sufferings, so to the afflicted and tormented would the just pass in their mind by compassion, and wish to set them free. But the souls of the just, although in the goodness of their nature they feel compassion, after being united to the righteousness of their Author, are constrained by such great uprightness as not to be moved with compassion towards the reprobate. Neither then do the unrighteous pass over to the lot of the blessed, because they are bound in everlasting condemnation, nor can the righteous pass to the reprobate, because being now made upright by the righteousness of judgment, they in no way pity them from any compassion.
THEOPHYLACT. You may from this derive an argument against the followers of Origen, who say, that since an end is to be placed to punishments, there will be a time when sinners shall be gathered to the righteous and to God.
AUGUSTINE. (Qu. Ev. lib. ii. qu. 88.) For it is shewn by the unchangeableness of the Divine sentence, that no aid of mercy can be rendered to men by the righteous, even though they should wish to give it; by which he reminds us, that in this life men should relieve those they can, since hereafter even if they be well received, they would not be able to give help to those they love. For that which was written, that they may receive you into everlasting habitations, was not said of the proud and unmerciful, but of those who have made to themselves friends by their works of mercy, whom the righteous receive, not as if by their own power benefitting them, but by Divine permission.
16:27–31
27. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house:
28. For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
29. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
30. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
31. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
GREGORY. (Hom. 40. in Ev.) When the rich man in flames found that all hope was taken away from him, his mind turns to those relations whom he had left behind, as it is said, Then said he, I pray thee therefore, father Abraham, to send him to my father’s house.
AUGUSTINE. (ubi sup.) He asks that Lazarus should be sent, because he felt himself unworthy to offer testimony to the truth. And as he had not obtained even to be cooled for a little while, much less does he expect to be set free from hell for the preaching of the truth.
CHRYSOSTOM. Now mark his perverseness; not even in the midst of his torments does he keep to truth. If Abraham is thy father, how sayest thou, Send him to thy father’s house? But thou hast not forgotten thy father, for he has been thy ruin.
GREGORY. (ut sup.) The hearts of the wicked are sometimes by their own punishment taught the exercise of charity, but in vain; so that they indeed have an especial love to their own, who while attached to their sins did not love themselves. Hence it follows, For I have five brethren, that he may testify to them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
AMBROSE. But it is too late for the rich man to begin to be master, when he has no longer time for learning or teaching.
GREGORY. (ut sup.) And here we must remark what fearful sufferings are heaped upon the rich man in flames. For in addition to his punishment, his knowledge and memory are preserved. He knew Lazarus whom he despised, he remembered his brethren whom he left. For that sinners in punishment may be still more punished, they both see the glory of those whom they had despised, and are harassed about the punishment of those whom they have unprofitably loved. But to the rich man seeking Lazarus to be sent to them, Abraham immediately answers, as follows, Abraham saith to him, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Conc. 4. de Lazaro.) As if he said, Thy brethren are not so much thy care as God’s, who created them, and appointed them teachers to admonish and urge them. But by Moses and the Prophets, he here means the Mosaic and prophetic writings.
AMBROSE. In this place our Lord most plainly declares the Old Testament to be the ground of faith, thwarting the treachery of the Jews, and precluding the iniquity of Heretics.
GREGORY. (in Hom. 40.) But he who had despised the words of God, supposed that his followers could not hear them. Hence it is added, And he said, Nay, father Abraham, but if one went to them from the dead they would repent. For when he heard the Scriptures he despised them, and thought them fables, and therefore according to what he felt himself, he judged the like of his brethren.
GREGORY OF NYSSA. (lib. de Anima.) But we are also taught something besides, that the soul of Lazarus is neither anxious about present things, nor looks back to aught that it has left behind, but the rich man, (as it were caught by birdlime,) even after death is held down by his carnal life. For a man who becomes altogether carnal in his heart, not even after he has put off his body is out of the reach of his passions.
GREGORY. (ubi sup.) But soon the rich man is answered in the words of truth; for it follows, And he said unto him, If they hear not, Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe though one rose from the dead. For they who despise the words of the Law, will find the commands of their Redeemer who rose from the dead, as they are more sublime, so much the more difficult to fulfil.
CHRYSOSTOM. (ut sup.) But that it is true that he who hears not the Scriptures, takes no heed to the dead who rise again, the Jews have testified, who at one time indeed wished to kill Lazarus, but at another laid hands upon the Apostles, notwithstanding that some had risen from the dead at the hour of the Cross. Observe this also, that every dead man is a servant, but whatever the Scriptures say, the Lord says. Therefore let it be that dead men should rise again, and an angel descend from heaven, the Scriptures are more worthy of credit than all. For the Lord of Angels, the Lord as well of the living and the dead, is their author. But if God knew this that the dead rising again, profited the living, He would not have omitted it, seeing that He disposes all things for our advantage. Again, if the dead were often to rise again, this too would in time be disregarded. And the devil also would easily insinuate perverse doctrines, devising resurrection also by means of his own instruments, not indeed really raising up the deceased, but by certain delusions deceiving the sight of the beholders, or contriving, that is, setting up some to pretend death.
AUGUSTINE. (de cura pro Mortuis habenda.) But some one may say, If the dead have no care for the living, how did the rich man ask Abraham, that he should send Lazarus to his five brethren? But because he said this, did the rich man therefore know what his brethren were doing, or what was their condition at that time? His care about the living was such that he might yet be altogether ignorant what they were doing, just as we care about the dead, although we know nothing of what they do. But again the question occurs, How did Abraham know that Moses and the prophets are here in their books? whence also had he known that the rich man had lived in luxury, but Lazarus in affliction. Not surely when these things were going on in their lifetime, but at their death he might know through Lazarus’ telling him, that in order that might not be false which the prophet says; Abraham heard us not. (Isa. 63:10.) The dead might also hear something from the angels who are ever present at the things which are done here. They might also know some things which it was necessary for them to have known, not only past, but also future, through the revelation of the Church of God.
AUGUSTINE. (Quæst. Ev. ii. qu. 38.) But these things may be so taken in allegory, that by the rich man we understand the proud Jews ignorant of the righteousness of God, and going about to establish their own. The purple and fine linen are the grandeur of the kingdom. And the kingdom of God (he says) shall be taken away from you. (Rom. 10:3.) The sumptuous feasting is the boasting of the Law, in which they gloried, rather abusing it to swell their pride, than using it as the necessary means of salvation. But the beggar, by name Lazarus, which is interpreted “assisted,” signifies want; as, for instance, some Gentile, or Publican, who is all the more relieved, as he presumes less on the abundance of his resources.
GREGORY. (in Hom. 40. in Ev.) Lazarus then full of sores, figuratively represents the Gentile people, who when turned to God, were not ashamed to confess their sins. Their wound was in the skin. For what is confession of sins but a certain bursting forth of wounds. But Lazarus, full of wounds, desired to be fed by the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table, and no one gave to him; because that proud people disdained to admit any Gentile to the knowledge of the Law, and words flowed down to him from knowledge, as the crumbs fell from the table.
AUGUSTINE. (ubi sup.) But the dogs which licked the poor man’s sores are those most wicked men who loved sin, who with a large tongue cease not to praise the evil works, which another loathes, groaning in himself, and confessing.
GREGORY. Sometimes also in the holy Word by dogs are understood preachers; according to that, That the tongue of thy dogs may be red by the very blood of thy enemies; (Ps. 68:23. Vulg.) for the tongue of dogs while it licks the wound heals it; for holy teachers, when they instruct us in confession of sin, touch as it were by the tongue the soul’s wound. The rich man was buried in hell, but Lazarus was carried by angels into Abraham’s bosom, that is, into that secret rest of which the truth says, Many shall come from the east and the west, and shall lie down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, but the children of the kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness. But being afar off, the rich man lifted up his eyes to behold Lazarus, because the unbelievers while they suffer the sentence of their condemnation, lying in the deep, fix their eyes upon certain of the faithful, abiding before the day of the last Judgment in rest above them, whose bliss afterwards they would in no wise contemplate. But that which they behold is afar off, for thither they cannot attain by their merits. But he is described to burn chiefly in his tongue, because the unbelieving people held in their mouth the word of the Law, which in their deeds they despised to keep. In that part then a man will have most burning wherein he most of all shews he knew that which he refused to do. Now Abraham calls him his son, whom at the same time he delivers not from torments; because the fathers of this unbelieving people, observing that many have gone aside from their faith, are not moved with any compassion to rescue them from torments, whom nevertheless they recognise as sons.
AUGUSTINE. (Quæst. Ev. lib. ii. qu. 39.) By the five brothers whom he says he has in his father’s house, he means the Jews who were called five, because they were bound under the Law, which was given by Moses who wrote five books.
CHRYSOSTOM. Or he had five brothers, that is, the five senses, to which he was before a slave, and therefore he could not love Lazarus because his brethren loved not poverty. Those brethren have sent thee into these torments, they cannot be saved unless they die; otherwise it must needs be that the brethren dwell with their brother. But why seekest thou that I should send Lazarus? They have Moses and the Prophets. Moses was the poor Lazarus who counted the poverty of Christ greater than the riches of Pharaoh. (Heb. 11:26.) Jeremiah, cast into the dungeon, was fed on the bread of affliction; and all the prophets teach those brethren. (Jer. 38:9.) But those brethren cannot be saved unless some one rise from the dead. For those brethren, before Christ was risen, brought me to death; He is dead, but those brethren have risen again. For my eye sees Christ, my ear hears Him, my hands handle Him. From what we have said then, we determine the fit place for Marcion and Manichæus, who destroy the Old Testament. See what Abraham says, If they hear not Moses and the prophets. As though he said, Thou doest well by expecting Him who is to rise again; but in them Christ speaks. If thou wilt hear them, thou wilt hear Him also.
GREGORY. (in Hom. 40.) But the Jewish people, because they disdained to spiritually understand the words of Moses, did not come to Him of whom Moses had spoken.
AMBROSE. Or else, Lazarus is poor in this world, but rich to God; for not all poverty is holy, nor all riches vile, but as luxury disgraces riches, so holiness commends poverty. Or is there any Apostolical man, poor in speech, but rich in faith, who keeps the true faith, requiring not the appendage of words. To such a one I liken him who oft-times beaten by the Jews offered the wounds of his body to be licked as it were by certain dogs. Blessed dogs, unto whom the dropping from such wounds so falls as to fill the heart and mouth of those whose office it is to guard the house, preserve the flock, keep off the wolf! And because the word is bread, our faith is of the word; the crumbs are as it were certain doctrines of the faith, that is to say, the mysteries of the Scriptures. But the Arians, who court the alliance of regal power that they may assail the truth of the Church, do not they seem to you to be in purple and fine linen? And these, when they defend the counterfeit instead of the truth, abound in flowing discourses. Rich heresy has composed many Gospels, and poor faith has kept this single Gospel, which it had received. Rich philosophy has made itself many gods, the poor Church has known only one. Do not those riches seem to you to be poor, and that poverty to be rich?
AUGUSTINE. (ubi sup.) Again also that story may be so understood, as that we should take Lazarus to mean our Lord; lying at the gate of the rich man, because he condescended to the proud ears of the Jews in the lowliness of His incarnation; desiring to be fed from the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table, that is, seeking from them even the least works of righteousness, which through pride they would not use for their own table, (that is, their own power,) which works, although very slight and without the discipline of perseverance in a good life, sometimes at least they might do by chance, as crumbs frequently fall from the table. The wounds are the sufferings of our Lord, the dogs who licked them are the Gentiles, whom the Jews called unclean, and yet, with the sweetest odour of devotion, they lick the sufferings of our Lord in the Sacraments of His Body and Blood throughout the whole world. Abraham’s bosom is understood to be the hiding place of the Father, whither after His Passion our Lord rising again was taken up, whither He was said to be carried by the angels, as it seems to me, because that reception by which Christ reached the Father’s secret place the angels announced to the disciples. The rest may be taken according to the former explanation, because that is well understood to be the Father’s secret place, where even before the resurrection the souls of the righteous live with God.
Catena Aurea Luke 16
As a boy and young man Oswald was raised by his uncle St. Oda and then studied at Winchester. At that time Church life, monasticism and discipline in the country had terribly declined after the devastations of the pagan Danes in the previous century. The saintly King Alfred the Great, who had saved the English State from destruction in the late ninth century, had only begun the long process of reviving the English Church by founding the monastery in Athelney and inviting Church figures to help him. For example, there was Werferth, a learned Bishop of Worcester from c.872 till c.915, a contemporary, friend and assistant of the Right-Believing King Alfred the Great at whose request he translated the Dialogues of St. Gregory the Dialogist from Latin into Old English.
St. Alfred’s work was continued by his tenth-century descendants, especially Kings Edward the Elder, Athelstan, St. Edgar the Peaceful and St. Edward the Martyr, and by the three holy English hierarchs: Sts. Dunstan of Canterbury, Ethelwold of Winchester and our saint—Oswald of Worcester, who was destined to be remembered in English Church history as a great archpastor and restorer. Oswald studied with married priests in Winchester for some years and it was there that he was eventually ordained a priest. But secular life was not for him, as Oswald had striven for a serious ascetic life since childhood.
Thus, in about 950 Oswald was tonsured and sent to the great monastery of Fleury in France (at Saint-Benoit-sur-Loire and which still exists). This monastery possessed the relics of St. Benedict of Nursia, “the father of Western monasticism”, and boasted the largest library in Western Europe. Oswald gained enormous spiritual experience and learned monastic skills in Fleury, staying there for about ten years. There he studied day and night, absorbing the Holy Scriptures and works of the Church Fathers. He even learned most of the services by heart. Once when the saint was serving the Divine Liturgy the people standing in the church saw an angel descending to him in the altar. On his deathbed, St. Oda, St. Oswald’s beloved uncle and mentor, sent messengers to him conveying his blessing to him to return to England and serve God and the people there. St. Oswald saw the will of God in it and, though it was a sorrow for him to leave Fleury, he came back to England.
On his return he learned that Oda had died shortly before. Oswald first wanted to go back to Fleury, but turned to his relative Oskytel in York who became his patron for some time. And it was Oskytel who introduced Oswald to the great archbishop-visionary and father of his people: Dunstan of Canterbury, who was undertaking a large restoration program in the English Church and needed like-minded people as his helpers. Dunstan came to love the young, mild, responsive and tactful Oswald and at once saw in spirit that his labors would yield bountiful fruit for the Church. So for the rest of his life Oswald dedicated his energies to reviving monasticism and spiritual life in the whole of England, in alliance with Sts. Dunstan and Ethelwold.
In 961 Dunstan consecrated Oswald Bishop of Worcester in western England, and this was to become a very large and prosperous diocese. This diocese still exists and it is already over 1330 years old. St. Oswald rebuilt the small St. Peter’s Cathedral Church at Worcester and the new cathedral was dedicated in honor of the Mother of God. The holy archpastor established in Worcester a large monastery and organized life there on the pattern of Fleury. It was a so-called “monastery-cathedral”; the tradition of building such ecclesiastical structures was characteristic of early England.
This monastery became one of the greatest in the English land. At that time in former English monasteries and cathedrals most of the clergy were married priests and there were almost no monks. Through the labors of “the three holy hierarchs of England” monasticism was very successfully reintroduced and spread all over England. By the end of that century there were thriving monastic communities for men and women throughout the country, despite the strong anti-monastic movement among part of the nobility (who murdered St. Edward the Martyr) and new Danish attacks.
But it was a difficult and gradual process in Worcester because it lacked monastic tradition. Oswald preached as best as he could inside his church and the townsfolk flocked to listen to the new preacher. Oswald also taught outside the church, often standing in an open space, and people’s hearts were drawn to him seeing his holiness and sincerity. Unlike St. Ethelwold, who out of zeal for the good of the Church often acted resolutely and quite sternly, in many cases physically expelling married priests from monasteries and replacing them with monks, St. Oswald acted very wisely and amicably. His approach was based primarily on love, temperance, patience and teaching. Like Dunstan, Oswald preferred to be slow and quiet rather than strict and quick. His very meek and amicable nature attracted the hearts of thousands of English people to him who loved him and gradually returned from their errors to the right path of genuine Christian life.
According to tradition, in Worcester Oswald first refused to demolish the church for married priests but built the new church for monks opposite it and allowed both communities to celebrate. Seeing the exemplary and pure life of the monks, hearing their magnificent choir singing (St. Oswald himself was a talented singer with a rare and beautiful voice, according to his contemporaries) and perfectly disciplined services, all the townsfolk started visiting them, and gradually deserted the church where married priests served, so they joined the monks or left and the old church was demolished. According to several records from that time, Oswald never forced any married clergy to leave, and until the end of his episcopacy there were married church workers and clergy in his monastery along with the monks.
In about 962, St. Oswald most probably rededicated the ancient monastery at St. Albans, the site of martyrdom of the first English martyr, St. Alban. At the same time he founded a new monastic community in Westbury-on-Trym near Bristol in Somerset, which was another great establishment (it first consisted of his twelve disciples). Early in the 970s, in alliance with the Right-Believing King Edgar the Peaceful, the lover of monks and supporter of monastic life in his kingdom, St. Oswald refounded (or restored) seven old monasteries in Western England. In the Severn valley these included Pershore and Evesham in Worcestershire (renowned centres of monastic life, holiness, and pilgrimage for centuries), and in Gloucestershire they most likely included Deerhurst, Winchcombe and Gloucester.
The holy archpastor gained so many pupils that he needed to open another new large community. So in 971 Oswald established a monastery outside his diocese at Ramsey in Cambridgeshire (it was then a peninsula with fens or marshes on three sides) and dedicated it to Our Lady, St. Benedict, and All Holy Virgins. The place offered everything that Oswald wanted for his monks: level land, rich soil, fresh water (the River Ouse flowed nearby), all kinds of fish and fowl, and solitude. This grew into a large and his most beloved monastery; in fact Oswald was its first abbot and spent much time in it. St. Oswald beautified and adorned the monastery church of Ramsey for many years, and some descriptions of the splendid church of his age still survive. Afterwards Ramsey developed into one of the wealthiest and one of most prominent medieval monasteries in England; some buildings and ruins of the former Ramsey Monastery are now used by a local college and the twelfth-century Church of St. Thomas Becket (built by the monastery as an infirmary or guesthouse) is still active.
All these labors finally led to the restoration of monastic life at Crowland in Lincolnshire: a great center on the site of the early eighth-century hermitage of St. Guthlac amid the marshes, who is recorded as “the English St. Antony the Great”. This great revival movement finally led to the restoration of monastic life in the north of England, though it was accomplished later, not in the lifetime of the three English holy hierarchs, because the Danish settlers’ influence in the north was still too strong at that time. Together with Dunstan and Ethelwold, Oswald worked on the preparation of the important document, Regularis Concordia, which was adopted and signed in 970. This document regulated monastic life and discipline in England.
In 972, Oswald was appointed Archbishop of York while retaining the post of Bishop of Worcester. This not very canonical measure was explained by the very weak monastic life in the north of England after the Danish invasions. In Yorkshire Oswald did all his best to revive monastic life, especially in Ripon where the monastery had been founded in the seventh century by the great missionary St. Wilfrid of York. In Ripon he may have collected portions of relics of local saints, including St. Wilfrid, and taken them to Worcester Cathedral for veneration; so, tradition holds that some relics of Wilfrid may be hidden inside this Cathedral to this day. An ascetic, visionary, encourager of monks and consoler of the people, St. Oswald (like his fellow archpastors Dunstan and Ethelwold) was an able advisor of the royal family for many years as well. Due to his close links with the royal house he managed to secure extensive lands for his monasteries.
Up to the end of his life Oswald remained an active preacher, energetic bishop, and builder of many churches. He often visited all his monasteries as a good shepherd. He promoted learning among his monks, inviting from Fleury preachers, mathematicians and astronomers. He himself wrote several treatises. Among other saints linked with St. Oswald we can mention St. Abbo, a learned monk of Fleury who was invited to Ramsey in the 980s for two years, either by Oswald (which is more likely) or else Dunstan, and there he taught. Significantly, while in England Abbo learned the story of the martyrdom of the Holy King Edmund of East Anglia and wrote his Life which survives to this day.
Another saint was Oswald’s kinsman Ednoth (feast: October 19/November 1). He studied at Worcester under St. Oswald and became a monk and eventually Abbot of Ramsey. He later founded St. Ives Monastery and Chatteris Convent in Cambridgeshire. About 1007 he became Bishop of Dorchester-on-Thames but in 1012 he was martyred by pagan Danes. His relics were kept at Ely. Sts. Oswald and Ednoth are depicted together in the fourteenth-century manuscript known as the “Ramsey Psalter”. There is, however, another, earlier illuminated “Ramsey Psalter”, most likely produced by Ramsey monks and personally belonging to St. Oswald; it is now preserved in the British Museum.
Late in 991, Oswald spent time at his beloved monastery of Ramsey where he kissed and blessed his monks for the last time. He felt that his end was near, so before his departure he said to the brethren, “May the Lord gather all of us in the Heavenly Kingdom.” He spent the winter in Worcester and on February 29,[1] 992 (that was a leap year), he served his last Liturgy. It was during Lent. Then, singing the Psalms, he washed the feet of twelve poor men, as was his daily custom during the Lenten fast. The saint of God reposed on the same day while kneeling and having just uttered the words: “Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit!”
The news of the repose of the holy father and bishop spread to towns and villages very quickly. It was said that on that day traders left their shops, women stopped their weaving, and all hastened to him: orphans, widows, monks, clergy, strangers, peasants and paupers – all those whom he had taken care of in his lifetime. All wept in their grief. When his body was carried to the site of his burial in Worcester, a white dove soared over the procession. The hierarch was venerated and remembered for his holy life and learning, for mercifulness and generosity, for honesty and meekness, for hospitality and care for the poor. An author of his Life states that he was loved during his life and venerated after his death. Indeed, he was a rare humble and kind-hearted saint, with a pleasant appearance, melodious voice, open and attractive nature and many talents;[2] in spirit he was very close to such early English saints as Cuthbert, Aidan, Chad, John of Beverley, Cuthman and Swithin of Winchester.
In 1002 Oswald’s relics were solemnly laid in a new shrine. Finally his veneration became national. He was particularly commemorated in Worcester, York and Ramsey. In the second half of the eleventh century the Worcester Monastery-Cathedral (from that time known as St. Mary’s Priory) was rebuilt by Oswald’s great successor, Wulfstan of Worcester (1008-1095; the last native English bishop from the “old” Church who served after the Norman Conquest) and his relics for some time rested in the monastery crypt from then on. Throughout the centuries numerous miracles occurred at the relics of Sts. Oswald and Wulfstan (the latter is venerated as a saint by Roman Catholics) at Worcester Cathedral whose tombs were located near each other. King John Lackland was so impressed by the spirit of holiness at Worcester Monastery that he ordered that he be buried between these two saints at the Cathedral (it was due to this close royal connection that the Cathedral was not destroyed during the Reformation).
During the Reformation the shrines of both saints were demolished, and their relics, according to tradition, were buried under the floor near the altar of the Cathedral where they may rest to this day, waiting for the time when they are again revealed to faithful Christians.
***
Let us now talk about the Worcester Monastery Cathedral. The early English Cathedral in Worcester was built in 680 and dedicated to St. Peter. The third bishop of this diocese was St. Egwin who founded Evesham Abbey on the site of a miraculous apparition of Mary the Mother of God. From 957 to 959, St. Dunstan served as Bishop of Worcester before being raised to the rank of Primate of the English Church. St. Oswald, the most venerated saint of the beautiful, Roman-founded city of Worcester, was bishop here in 961-992. Since then the monastery in Worcester has been dedicated to the Mother of God. In 1040 Worcester was badly damaged by a Danish invasion but was rapidly restored. Under Bishop Wulfstan, construction of a large new Cathedral began in 1062.
In 1084 the building of the many-columned Cathedral crypt was begun by the Normans; it still exists in perfect condition and is regarded as one of the finest in the country. It has exhibitions devoted to the Cathedral’s early English past. Remarkably, it displays the boots, staff and part of the emblem of Santiago de Compostella of a fifteenth-century pilgrim whose remains were discovered under the floor of the Cathedral in 1986. The remains were examined by scientists from the University of York and it is now presumed that they belong to Robert Sutton, a wealthy Worcester dyer who loved pilgrimages.After the Norman Conquest what is now the Catholic cathedral-priory grew and developed. The motto of its monks was: “No prayer without work, no work without prayer.” Worcester’s brethren were occupied by growing plants, various crafts, teaching, and scholarship. They received and always generously treated thousands of pilgrims, performed public and private services, and ministered to those in need. They fed and clothed the poor and the hungry, managed a hospital, and gave communion to prisoners. Many scholars were produced by Worcester. Among them we can mention Florence of Worcester (+1118), a monk and chronicler who took part in the compilation of the Chronicle of Chronicles in Latin, which related the history of the world from the Creation till 1140; John of Worcester (+1140), a devout monk and man of learning who completed this chronicle, which survives in five manuscripts; the antiquarian, prolific author and chronicler William of Worcester (c.1415-1482) who travelled extensively across the country.
This was not the only monastery in Worcester in the Middle Ages. In the medieval period there were also the Black (Dominican) Friars, Friars of the Sack, the Grey Friars (Franciscan Friars Minor; a part of the friary remains intact), the Penitent Sisters, the Trinitarians and probably other communities. What today is called the Commandery Museum in Worcester was originally the hospital and almshouses founded by St. Wulfstan in 1085. In its long history it served as a charitable home, a hospice for the dying, a hostel for pilgrims (founded by the Knights Hospitallers), and was even the headquarters of the Royalist Army during the Civil War.
Worcester is also famous for its ancient and very rich musical traditions. Among the great composers who were closely related to Worcester Cathedral let us mention Thomas Tomkins (1572-1656), a pupil of William Byrd, organist and madrigal-writer who composed a large amount of Church music; and the greatest composer in English history Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934, a Roman Catholic). Both spent part of their lives in and near Worcester. (The birthplace of Elgar is in Lower Broadheath just outside the city). Elgar, who precisely in Worcester first performed his famous work, The Enigma Variations, is commemorated at the Cathedral on one of its stained glass windows and his monument stands in the city center close by. The Church music of both composers is often performed in the Cathedral.Worcester is one of the three English cities in which since 1724 the annual festival of spiritual music called, “The Three Choirs Festival”, has been held (the other two cities are Gloucester and Hereford)—this is the oldest music festival in the world, and it is held in each of these cities alternately. Among celebrities buried at the cathedral are King John Lackland (1167-1216) and Prince Arthur Tudor (1486-1502—the elder brother of the future King Henry VIII who died at Ludlow Castle in Shropshire aged only 15 (who knows, maybe if Arthur, and not Henry, had succeeded to the throne, the bloody Reformation with all its consequences would have not happened)[3] and the Prime-Minister Stanley Baldwin (1867-1947).
Another eminent figure in Worcester was the prominent author and novelist Ellen Wood (1814-1887). She wrote under the pseudonym Mrs. Henry Wood and her novels, such as East Lynne, were translated into many languages. Her monument can be found in the Cathedral. A hero connected with Worcester is the Anglican priest, preacher and poet Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy (1883-1929, nicknamed “Woodbine Willie”) who served at the city’s St. Paul’s church. During the First World War he volunteered as a chaplain and, at permanent risk to his life, he courageously rescued, helped and consoled wounded and dying soldiers in no man’s land. He supported them spiritually and gave them woodbine cigarettes, hence his nickname. For his self-sacrificing work he was awarded the Military Cross (commemorated by some in the C of E on March 8).In 1540 the Benedictine priory at Worcester was closed: though the church itself survived and has been used as Anglican Cathedral since then, some monastic buildings were destroyed or used for other purposes. In the seventeenth century the Cathedral was greatly damaged by the Republicans (it should be recalled that there were many Royalists in and around Worcester), and the famous Battle of Worcester took place in 1651, when Oliver Cromwell defeated the Scottish armies of the future Charles II. In the nineteenth century large-scale restoration work was carried out at the Cathedral, and Sir George Gilbert Scott contributed much to it. Restoration resumed in the 1980s.
Today this magnificent ancient Cathedral, standing on the banks of the River Severn and dedicated to Christ the Savior and the Most Holy Virgin, attracts thousands of pilgrims from around the world every year. The Cathedral is influenced by many architectural styles, from Norman to Perpendicular. Apart from the crypt, a true gem of the Cathedral is its circular chapter-house (early twelfth century; the only round chapter-house in England) that has survived in perfect condition from ancient times. In this room monks used to read a chapter of the rule of St. Benedict every day (hence its name) and settle everyday monastic affairs. Of the surviving former monastic buildings we can mention the refectory. The medieval central tower of the cathedral is fifty-two feet high and offers fantastic views of the city from its top. The peal of the Cathedral’s bells is one of the most beautiful in England, according to many.
The Cathedral is famous for its thirty-nine ancient misericords (ledges projecting from the underside of hinged seats in choir stalls which, when the seat is turned up, give support to someone standing nearby—they were used by monks during long services) with fine carvings depicting scenes from the Bible or folklore. The unique medieval former monastic library still survives in the Cathedral: some of the Abbey manuscripts are kept there, while the rest are in the British Library in London and in Oxford and Cambridge. From those kept at Worcester (most of them have been digitalized today) there are about 300 medieval documents from the tenth to the fifteenth centuries, 5,500 post-medieval books, about 20,000 archive documents from various epochs and a large music collection. There is a rich set of stained glass throughout the Cathedral depicting numerous saints, Bible characters and events, kings and writers.
On a more secular side, Worcester gained fame for glove-making, the special Worcester sauce, Worcester porcelain and for Berrow’s Worcester Journal which claims to be the oldest newspaper in the world still in circulation (it began in 1690). Worcester is a city with a particular atmosphere of peace and warmth, especially at the Cathedral with its homely feel so close to Orthodox hearts. We believe that it owes much of this spirit to the prayers of St. Oswald who blessed this place through his holy life and deeds.
Holy Hierarch Oswald of Worcester and York, pray to God for us!
3/13/2016
[1] His feast-day is celebrated by Catholics and Anglicans on February 29 in leap years and on February 28 in all other years, and by Orthodox on March 13. There was a curious tradition in Scotland and some other countries in the Middle Ages. According to it, any woman could propose marriage to a man she liked once in every four years, namely on February 29 (which was also St. Oswald’s day). If a man declined the proposal of marriage, he was obliged to pay a fine to the woman as compensation (i.e. to kiss her or to give her money to buy a silk dress or gloves). An appropriate law was enacted in Scotland in 1288. Ireland had the same tradition much earlier, from the fifth century on.
[2] This is what Eleanor Shipley Duckett (1880-1976), a medieval historian and expert in the English monastic reform of the tenth century, writes of St. Oswald: “His nature held neither the deep reserve of Dunstan nor the impetuous drive toward the goal so characteristic of Ethelwold. His was, rather, a spirit of warm and genial friendliness; his spontaneous greeting of welcome to his fellow-men won for him a ready response from all with whom he lived and worked. His fervor for religion in its stricter ways was no less than that of Dunstan and Ethelwold, his practice as sincere and faithful; but his mind seems to have lacked something of the austere temperament of the one, the stern quickness of the other…. The picture left of Oswald to a later day was of a father who worked in holy shrewdness and skill; who impressed his clerics by the delight with which he shared the Hours with his religious and by the love and reverence which the people of Worcester openly showed toward this monastic bishop of theirs… Like his friends of Canterbury and Winchester, Oswald gave constant thought to the seculars, the parish priests, the laity, of high and low estate, under his charge. Continually he was making the round of his diocese, preaching in village after village to the peasants, giving aid to the many poor and destitute whom he met on his way.”
[3] As wisely notes Eleanor Parker, a very young and talented modern researcher and propagator of the early English holiness among her fellow-countrymen: “There is something very poignant about the figures of the Saxon saints [at the cathedral] casting their bright lights over Arthur's tomb, when it was his death which brought about the greatest gap between our world and theirs.”
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)
First Reading:
From: Jeremiah 17:5-10
God Rewards People as They Deserve (Continuation)
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[5] Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm, whose heart turns away from the LORD. [6] He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.
[7] ”Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. [8] He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit."
[9] The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt; who can understand it? [10] "I the LORD search the mind and try the heart, to give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings."
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Commentary:
17:1-13. This passage includes a number of short oracles in the style of wisdom writing, graphically expressing themes that were constant in Jeremiah’s preaching. Judah’s sin of idolatry was quite obvious: anyone travelling the country could see people frequenting the places where Canaanite gods were worshipped; they were everywhere one went (vv. 1-3a). That is why the Lord will abandon the Israelites, who will be uprooted from their land and enslaved (vv. 3b-4).
Using words similar to those of Psalm 1, the prophet describes the misfortune that will befall those who trust in themselves, as against the prosperity of those who trust in God (vv. 5-8). St Thomas Aquinas’ commentary on Psalm 1 fits in nicely with the simile here of the tree planted beside water (v. 8): “We are asked to consider three things in the image of the tree--its being well-rooted, its fruitfulness, and the sustaining of its life. To be well-rooted, the tree must be well-watered, otherwise it will dry up and wither away; thus, we are told that the tree is planted beside running waters, which symbolize the currents of grace. ‘He who believes in me...out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water’ (Jn 7:38). The one whose roots draw on the living waters will bear much fruit in all the good works that he does, and fruitfulness is the second aspect of the image that we are asked to contemplate. ‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness’, etc. (Gal 5:22). The tree does not wither away: it is sustained in life. Some trees lose their leaves, but others never lose their leaves; and thus it is with righteous men [...]; they will not be forgotten by God even in their tiniest and least significant actions. ‘The righteous will flourish like a green leaf’ (Prov 11:28)” ("Postilla super Psalmos", 1, 3).
God cannot be deceived; he sees right into a person’s heart, and he will judge each on his merits (vv. 9-11). The hope of Israel is the Lord (vv. 12-13), the fount of water (ef. 2:13; Ps 42:2; Jn 4:10) without which none can live (cf. v. 8). To show that those who forsake God will be judged and condemned, Jeremiah uses an image (they “shall be written in the earth”: v. 13) that is reminiscent of Jesus’ gesture when he “judges” the men who accuse the woman caught in adultery (Jn 8:6). The wind will blow their names away: they will have no place in the book of life.
From: Luke 16:19-31
Lazarus and the Rich Man
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(Jesus told them this parable:) [19] "There was a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. [20] And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, full of sores, [21] who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table; moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. [22] The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried; [23] and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom. [24] And he called out, `Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame.' [25] But Abraham said, `Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things, but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. [26] And besides in all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.' [27] And he said, `Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house, [28] for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.' [29] But Abraham said, `They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.' [30] And he said, `No, father Abraham; but if some one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' [31] He said to him, `If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if some one should rise from the dead.'"
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Commentary:
19-31. This parable disposes of two errors--that of those who denied the survival of the soul after death and, therefore, retribution in the next life; and that of those who interpreted material prosperity in this life as a reward for moral rectitude, and adversity as punishment. This parable shows that, immediately after death, the soul is judged by God for all its acts--the "particular judgment"--and is rewarded or punished; and that divine revelation is by itself sufficient for men to be able to believe in the next life.
In another area, the parable teaches the innate dignity of every human person, independently of his social, financial, cultural or religious position. And respect for this dignity implies that we must help those who are experiencing any material or spiritual need: "Wishing to come down to topics that are practical and of some urgency, the Council lays stress on respect for the human person: everyone should look upon his neighbor (without any exception) as another self, bearing in mind above all his life and the means necessary for living it in a dignified way lest he follow the example of the rich man who ignored Lazarus, the poor man" (Vatican II, "Gaudium Et Spes", 27).
Another practical consequence of respect for others is proper distribution of material resources and protection of human life, even unborn life, as Paul VI pleaded with the General Assembly of the United Nations: "Respect for life, even with regard to the great problem of the birth rate, must find here in your assembly its highest affirmation and its most reasoned defense. You must strive to multiply bread so that it suffices for the tables of mankind, and not rather favor an artificial control of birth, which would be irrational, in order to diminish the number of guests at the banquet of life" ("Address to the UN", 4 October 1965).
21. Apparently this reference to the dogs implies not that they alleviated Lazarus' sufferings but increased them, in contrast with the rich man's pleasure: to the Jews dogs were unclean and therefore were not generally used as domestic animals.
22-26. Earthly possession, as also suffering, are ephemeral things: death marks their end, and also the end of our testing-time, our capacity to sin or to merit reward for doing good; and immediately after death we begin to enjoy our reward or to suffer punishment, as the case may be. The Magisterium of the Church has defined that the souls of all who die in the grace of God enter Heaven, immediately after death or after first undergoing a purging, if that is necessary. "We believe in eternal life. We believe that the souls of all those who die in the grace of Christ--whether they must still make expiation in the fire of Purgatory, or whether from the moment they leave their bodies they are received by Jesus into Paradise like the Good Thief—go to form that people of God which succeeds death, death which will be totally destroyed on the day of the resurrection when these souls are reunited with their bodies" (Paul VI, "Creed of the People of God", 28).
The expression of "Abraham's bosom" refers to the place or state "into which the souls of the just, before the coming of Christ the Lord were received, and where, without experiencing any sort of pain, but supported by the blessed hope of redemption, they enjoyed peaceful repose. To liberate these holy souls, who, in the bosom of Abraham were expecting the Savior, Christ the Lord descended into hell" ("St. Pius V Catechism", I, 6, 3).
22. "Both the rich man and the beggar died and were carried before Abraham, and there judgment was rendered on their conduct. And the Scripture tells us that Lazarus found consolation, but that the rich man found torment. Was the rich man condemned because he had riches, because he abounded in earthly possessions, because he `dressed in purple and linen and feasted sumptuously every day'? No, I would say that it was not for this reason. The rich man was condemned because he did not pay attention to the other man, because he failed to take notice of Lazarus, the person who sat at his door and who longed to eat the scraps from his table. Nowhere does Christ condemn the mere possession of earthly goods as such. Instead, He pronounces very harsh words against those who use their possessions in a selfish way, without paying attention to the needs of others[...]."
The parable of the rich man and Lazarus must always be present in our memory; it must form our conscience. Christ demands openness to our brothers and sisters in need--openness from the rich, the affluent, the economically advantaged; openness to the poor, the underdeveloped and the disadvantaged. Christ demands an openness that is more than benign attention, more than token actions or half-hearted efforts that leave the poor as destitute as before or even more so [...].
"We cannot stand idly by, enjoying our riches and freedom, if, in any place, the Lazarus of the Twentieth Century stands at our doors. In the light of the parable of Christ, riches and freedom mean a special responsibility. Riches and freedom create a special obligation. And so, in the name of the solidarity that binds us all together in a common humanity, I again proclaim the dignity of every human person: the rich man and Lazarus are both human beings, both of them equally created in the image and likeness of God, both of them equally redeemed by Christ, at a great price of the `precious blood of Christ' (1 Peter 1:19)" ([Pope] John Paul II, "Homily in Yankee Stadium", 2 October 1979).
24-31. The dialogue between the rich man and Abraham is a dramatization aimed at helping people remember the message of the parable: strictly speaking, there is no room in Hell for feelings of compassion toward one's neighbor: in Hell hatred presides. "When Abraham said to the rich man `between us and you a great chasm has been fixed...' he showed that after death and resurrection there will be no scope for any kind of penance. The impious will not repent and enter the Kingdom, nor will the just sin and go down into Hell. This is the unbridgeable abyss" (Aphraates, "Demonstratio", 20; "De Sustentatione Egenorum", 12). This helps us to understand what St. John Chrysostom says: "I ask you and I beseech you and, falling at your feet, I beg you: as long as we enjoy the brief respite of life, let us repent, let us be converted, let us become better, so that we will not have to lament uselessly like that rich man when we die and tears can do us no good. For even if you have a father or a son or a friend or anyone else who have influence with God, no one will be able to set you free, for your own deeds condemn you" ("Hom. on 1 Cor.").
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