Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Love and Being

*God pours Himself out in an ecstasy of love. He does not remain in the Heavens and call to Himself the servant He loves. No, He Himself descends and searches out for such a servant, and comes near, and lets His love be seen, as He seeks what is like Himself. From those who despise Him, He does not depart; He shows no anger toward those who defy Him, but follows them to their very doors, and endures all things, and even dies, in order to demonstrate His love. All this is true, but we have not yet declared the highest things of all: for not merely does God enter in close fellowship with His servants and extend to them His hand, but He has given Himself wholly to us, so that we become temples of the Living God, and our members are the members of Christ. The head of these members is worshipped by the cherubim, and these hands and feet are joined to that heart.* -St. Nicholas Cabasilas

*I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.* -John 15:5