ACC ~ Matthew 10 v20

YOUR FATHER SPEAKS THROUGH YOU IN EVERY AGE

AUGUSTINE: To be sure, we heard in that reading, “But when they deliver you up, do not be anxious how or what you are to speak … for it is not you who are speaking but the Spirit of your Father who speaks through you.” And he says in another place: “Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.” [1] Does this mean that the people who heard those words of the Lord would be here until the end of the world? The Lord was referring, rather, not only to those about to depart from this life but also to the others, including us and those who would come after us in this life. He saw everyone in his single body, and the words he spoke, “I am with you even to the end of the world,” were heard by them and by us too. And if we did not hear them then in our knowledge, we heard them in his foreknowledge. Therefore, safe as sheep among the wolves, let us keep the commandments of him who directs us. And let us be “innocent as doves but cautious as snakes.” [2] Innocent as doves that we may not harm anyone; cautious as snakes that we may be careful of letting anyone harm us. SERMON 64A.2. [3]

[1] Mt 28:20.

[2] Mt 10:16.

[3] 9.

IT IS NOT YOU WHO SPEAKS

ANONYMOUS: For the greater consolation of the apostles, he did not say, “The Spirit of your Father who speaks in you” but “who speaks.” He meant that neither then nor now can they do or speak anything without the Spirit of God. It is as though he said to them, “You see me hungry, and you believe that I am the heavenly bread. You see me thirsty, and you believe that I am the spring of water welling up to eternal life. [1] You believe in me and declare that I speak the truth. How are we to understand this human faculty that sees one thing and believes another and then professes that belief? So, if now at a time when there is no danger, my grace is at work in you, how much more will it be in you when persecution comes? For he who sustains you in peace will help you all the more in war.” INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 24. [2]

[1] Jn 4:14.

[2] PG 56:759.