Scripture and the Church Fathers
FEW ARE SAVED
Gospel Reading For August 21, 2022
(3-minute read)
Luke 13:22-30: “Jesus passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, ‘Lord, will only a few people be saved?’ He answered them, ‘Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough…’ ”
BARE HEARTS
“Many have believed in Christ and frequent the churches. They also hear the doctrines of the Gospel, but they lay up in their mind absolutely nothing of the truths of Scripture. And it is with difficulty that the practice of virtue is brought with them even to this extent, while of spiritual fruitfulness their heart is quite bare.
These too shall weep bitterly and gnash their teeth; for the Lord shall deny them also. For He has said, that "not everyone that says unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that does the will of My Father Who is in heaven."
- St. Cyril of Alexandria
NO EXCUSE
“There are virtues of the body and virtues of the soul. Those of the body include fasting, vigils, sleeping on the ground, ministering to people's needs, working with one's hands so as not to be a burden or in order to give to others (cf. 1 Thess. 2:9, Ephes. 4:28).
Those of the soul include love, long-suffering, gentleness, self-control, and prayer (cf. Gal, 5:22). If as a result of some constraint or bodily condition, such as illness or the like, we find we cannot practice the bodily virtues mentioned above, we are forgiven by the Lord because He knows the reasons. But if we fail to practice the virtues of the soul, we shall not have a single excuse, for it is always within our power to practice them.”
- St. Maximus the Confessor
PROTECTION
“The self-controlled refrain from gluttony; those who have renounced possessions, from greed; the tranquil, from loquacity; the pure, from self-indulgence; the modest, from unchastity; the self-dependent, from avarice; the gentle, from agitation; the humble, from self-esteem; the obedient, from quarrelling; the self-critical, from hypocrisy.
Similarly, those who pray are protected from despair; the poor, from having many possessions; confessors of the faith, from its denial; martyrs, from idolatry.”
- St. Mark the Ascetic
