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Welcoming Strangers
on “the least of these”: “If one of you says, ‘If I was supposed to entertain Paul as a guest, I would do it readily and eagerly,’ listen! It is in your power to entertain Paul’s Master as your guest and you won’t. For ‘he that receiveth one of these least,’ Christ said, ‘receiveth me.’ The lower your neighbors may be, Christ comes to you through them all the more. For those that receive the great often do it out of vainglory. But those that receive the small do it purely for Christ’s sake. It is in your power to entertain even the Father of Christ as your guest and you won’t. For ‘I was a stranger,’ He says, ‘And ye took me in.’ And also, ‘Unto the least of these brethren that believe on Me, ye have done it unto me.’ Although they aren’t Paul, if they are even the least of believers, Christ comes to you through them. Open your house. Take Him in. ‘He that receiveth a prophet,’ He said, ‘shall receive a prophet’s reward.’ Therefore, those who also receive Christ will receive the reward of those who have Christ as their guest. Don’t doubt His words, but believe.” - John Chrysostom (Homily 45 on Acts) on humility: “In whatever you do for a fellow-servant, remember that your Master has done it to your servants. listen and shudder! Never be pleased by your humility! … Perhaps you laugh at that statement, as if humility could puff you up. But don't be surprised if it puffs you up when it isn't genuine. How and in what way could it do this? When it is practiced to gain human favor and not God's favor. When it is practiced so that we could be praised and be considered great. For this is of the devil. Those who boast because they aren't boastful please themselves by their humility and high regard.... Have you done any act out of humility? Don't be proud of it, otherwise all its merit is lost. The Pharisee was like this. He was puffed up because he gave his tithes to the poor, and, as a result, he lost the honor of the deed. But not so with the tax collector. Nor with Paul who said, "I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified." See how he doesn't exalt himself, but in every way lowers and humbles himself, even when he had arrived at the summit.... When you * The Dead Theologians newsletter erroneously linked the entry on Charlemagne to this page. To access the additional information about Charlemagne, Alcuin, and Augustine, and the relationship between church and state, click here. |
