Office of Readings

  Do not forget, then, that there was a time when you who were pagans physically, termed the Uncircumcised by those who speak of themselves as the Circumcision by reason of a physical operation, do not forget, I say, that you had no Christ and were excluded from membership of Israel, aliens with no part in the covenants with their Promise; you were immersed in this world, without hope and without God. But now in Christ Jesus, you that used to be so far apart from us have been brought very close, by the blood of Christ. For he is the peace between us, and has made the two into one and broken down the barrier which used to keep them apart, actually destroying in his own person the hostility caused by the rules and decrees of the Law. This was to create one single New Man in himself out of the two of them and by restoring peace through the cross, to unite them both in a single Body and reconcile them with God: in his own person he killed the hostility. Later he came to bring the good news of peace, peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near at hand. Through him, both of us have in the one Spirit our way to come to the Father.

  So you are no longer aliens or foreign visitors: you are citizens like all the saints, and part of God’s household. You are part of a building that has the apostles and prophets for its foundations, and Christ Jesus himself for its main cornerstone. As every structure is aligned on him, all grow into one holy temple in the Lord; and you too, in him, are being built into a house where God lives, in the Spirit.

  You cannot plead poverty here; for the poor widow who put in two copper coins will be your accuser. Moreover,

  Peter said, ‘Silver and gold I have none’, and Paul was so poor that he often went hungry and lacked necessary food.

  You cannot plead lowliness of birth; for the apostles also were lowly men and of humble parents. You cannot allege want of education; for they too were unlearned men. You cannot plead infirmity, for Timothy was of delicate health and was frequently ill.

  Everyone can be of profit to his neighbour, if he will fulfil his role.

  Look at the trees of the forest: how strong they are, how beautiful, how large also, and smooth, and of great height, but they do not bear fruit. If we had a garden, we should much rather have pomegranates or fruitful olive trees. The others are for the delight of the eye, not for profit, which in their case is very small.

  Men who are interested only in themselves are like the forest trees, or rather they are not even so good. In fact they are fit only for the fire, while the forest timber can be used for building houses and palisades. Such are the foolish virgins of the parable, chaste indeed and decent and modest, but as they are of no profit to anyone they are rejected. Such are they who do not nourish Christ.

  Observe that none of these are charged with particular sins of their own, with fornication, for instance, or with perjury; in short, with no sin but that of being without use to another. Such was the man who buried his talent, showing indeed a blameless life, but not being useful to others.

  How can such a one be a Christian ? If yeast when mixed with the flour did not raise the whole batch, would it be yeast at all? Again, if a perfume could not be perceived by those around, could it in any sense be called a perfume?

  Do not say, ‘It is impossible for me to induce others to become Christians,’ for if you were really a Christian, it would be impossible for you not to do so. As all nature acts in accordance with its own properties, so in this case too; this is part of the very nature of being a Christian.

  Do not insult God. To say that the sun cannot shine would be to insult him; to say that being a Christian is useless is to insult God and call him a liar. It is easier for the sun not to give heat, not to shine, than for the Christian not to send forth light; it is easier for the light to be darkness than for this to be so.

  Do not tell me that it is impossible; it is the contrary that is impossible. Do not insult God. If we once get our own affairs right, the other will certainly follow as a natural and necessary consequence. It is not possible for the light of a Christian to be hid; it is not possible for a lamp so conspicuous as that to be concealed.