Courage and Humility Defeat Death
Isidore said: ‘The one who is faithful to God ought not to trust in God’s own faithfulness: nor should the one who sins against God despair of God’s mercy. In the heart of both are hope and fear side by side: hope of forgiveness which inspires courage, and fear of punishment which rouses humility.
‘It is necessary that the penitent never feel secure with regard to their sin, because such a feeling of security produces carelessness, and carelessness takes them back unawares to their past life.
‘We do not know how long our life may last. We ought therefore to be in a hurry lest death overtake us unexpectedly while we are delaying.’
Caesarius said: ‘The surer we are of the past, the more careful we must be of the future. All our sins come back to us quickly if we do not fight them every day with good works.’
Defensor Grammaticus, Book of Sparkling Wisdom, 23 (SC77, pp.326ff.)
When our Winter is Past
Use your body, I beseech you, with moderation. Remember, with this body you will be raised from death when you come to be judged.
Perhaps you have some doubt whether this could happen. If so, reflect in detail on what has already happened within your own self. Tell me, where were you a hundred years ago? Cannot the Creator who gave existence to a person that did not exist bring to life again a person that did exist but is now dead?
Every year he makes the corn spring to life that had withered and died after it was sown. Do you suppose that he who raised himself from the dead for our sake will have any difficulty in raising us to new life?
Or look at the trees. For a number of months they remain without fruit, even without leaves. But once the winter is past, they become green all over, new, as if risen from the dead. With better reason, and with greater ease, shall we be called to new life.
Do not listen to those who deny the resurrection of the body. Isaiah testifies: ‘The dead shall live again: the bodies of those who have died shall live.’ [Isa. 26:19] And according to the word of Daniel, ‘Many of those who sleep beneath the earth shall awaken, some to life eternal, the rest to eternal ruin.’ [Dan. 12:2]
Cyril of Jerusalem, Catecheses, 4, 30 ff. (PG33, 492)
~Thomas Spidlik, Drinking from the Hidden Fountain: A Patristic Breviary, Ancient Wisdom for Today’s World
