ACC ~ Luke 12 v22 - 28

A CALL TO ABANDON ANXIETY

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: How carefully and with what great skill he brings the lives of the holy apostles to spiritual excellence. And with them he benefits us too, because he desires all humankind to be saved and to choose the wise and more excellent life. For this reason he makes them abandon unnecessary anxiety and does not allow a careworn and frenetic diligence that would make them wish to gather what exceeds their necessities. In these matters excess adds nothing to our benefit. “Do not be anxious,” therefore, he says, “about your life, what you shall eat, nor about your body, what you shall put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.” He did not simply say, “Do not be anxious,” but added “about your life,” that is, do not give much attention to these things, but devote your earnestness to things of far greater importance. For life indeed is of more importance than food, and the body is more important than clothing. Since, therefore, we are at risk concerning both life and body, and pain and punishment are decreed against those who will not live uprightly, let all anxiety be laid aside with regard to clothing and food. …

These things, in turn, are followed immediately by a savage crowd of other desires, the result being apostasy from God. … It is our duty, therefore, to stay away from all worldly desires, and rather to take delight in those things which please God. COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 90. [1]

[1] CGSL 363-64**.

GOD’S CARE FOR BIRDS AND FLOWERS

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: But perhaps you will reply to this, “Who then will give us the necessities of life?” Our answer to this is as follows: The Lord is worthy to be trusted, and he clearly promises it to you and through little things gives you full assurance that he will be true also in that which is great. “Consider,” he says, “the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them.” … Through the birds and the flowers of the field, he produces in you a firm and unwavering faith. Nor does he permit us at all to doubt, but rather he gives us the certainty that he will grant us his mercy and stretch out his comforting hand, that we may have sufficiency in all things. It is, moreover, a very wicked thing that while those who are placed under the yoke of bodily slavery depend on their masters as sufficient to supply them with food and clothing, we will not consent to put our trust in almighty God, when he promises us the necessities of life. COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 90. [1]

[1] CGSL 364**.

FLOWERS AND GRASS ILLUSTRATE DIVINE MERCY

AMBROSE: It is indeed a good and moral saying. By the comparison with flowers and grass, the Lord’s words provoke us to faith in the gift of divine mercy, either literally, because we are unable to add to our body’s stature, or spiritually, because we cannot exceed the measure of our stature without the favor of God. For what is so moral for persuasion as when you see that even the nonrational things are so clothed by God’s providence that they lack no use for grace or for ornament? Then you believe the more that rational man, if he places all his usefulness in God and does not dishonor the faith with intent to waver, can never lack, inasmuch as he has rightly trusted in the favor of God? EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 7.125. [1]

[1] EHG 281-82*.

ANGELS, MARTYRS AND SAINTS ARE THE FLOWERS OF THE WORLD

AMBROSE: It is pleasing to note that lilies spring not from the barrenness of mountains and the wildness of forests but from the loveliness of gardens. These are the fruit-bearing gardens of diverse virtues, as it is written, “A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a garden locked, a fountain sealed.” [1] Where there is integrity, chastity, piety, faithful silence of secrets, the radiance of angels, there are the violets of confessors, the lilies of virgins, the roses of martyrs. And let no one think it is inappropriate to compare lilies with angels, when Christ called himself a lily, saying, “I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.” [2] Christ is fittingly a lily, because where there is the blood of martyrs, there is the Christ, who is a flower exalted, undefiled and blameless, in which the roughness of thorns does not offend but enveloping grace begins to shine. Roses have thorns which are the torments of the martyrs. The indivisible Godhead, which did not feel torments, has no thorns. Therefore, if lilies, like angels, are clothed beyond the glory of men, [3] we should not despair of the mercy of God toward us—we to whom through the grace of the resurrection the Lord promises the likeness of angels. [4] In this passage, Jesus also seems to touch on the question which the apostle did not overlook, either—the question that the nations of this world would ask, namely, how will the dead rise and with what manner of body will they come? [5] By saying, “Seek the kingdom, and these things shall be yours as well,” Jesus indicates that grace will not be lacking for the faithful in the present or in the future, if only those who desire the heavenly do not seek the earthly. It is unseemly for the soldiers of the kingdom [6] to worry about food. The King knows how to feed, cherish and clothe his household, and therefore he said, “Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you.” [7] EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 8.128-30. [8]

[1] Song 4:12.

[2] Song 2:1.

[3] See Mt 6:29.

[4] Mt 22:30.

[5] 1 Cor 15:35.

[6] See 2 Cor 10:3.

[7] Ps 55:22 (54:23 LXX).

[8] EHG 283-84*.