Thursday, June 14, 2012

St. Dionysius of Alexandria: Persevere in Admonishing Even Those Who Choose Evil

From The Holy Gospel According To St. John 13: 10, 11 (NIV):

JESUS answered, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you." For HE knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

How great is the example YOU showed of enduring evil! How great, too, is YOUR model of humility! How is it that the LORD gave us this example to show us that we shouldn't give up counseling our neighbors even if they aren't affected by our words? For incurable wounds are wounds that can't be healed by harsh medications or by more pleasant ones. Similarly, the soul, when it has been taken captive, gives itself up to wickedness, refuses to consider what is profitable for it, and won't accept goodness despite great counsel. As if it is deaf, it won't benefit from any advice. Not that it can't, but it won't. This happened in Judas' case. Nevertheless, CHRIST, although HE knew this beforehand, didn't ever stop doing everything to counsel him. Since we know that JESUS practiced this, we also should never stop striving to set the careless right even if it seems no good comes from our counsel. --St. Dionysius of Alexandria

No comments:

Post a Comment