The Second Sunday after Trinity

Homily of Augustine on Psalm X
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LORD, make us to have a perpetual fear and love of thy holy name: for thou never failest to help and govern them whom thou doest bring up in thy stedfast love. Grant this, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Collect source: Sacrementary of Gelasius, Bishop of Rome [ca 494AD]. The orginal Latin has a play upon words that is lost in translation

Psalms 12, 13 | 10, 11 ; 1 St. John iii. 13   &   St. Luke xiv. 16

Homily

Comment

Today we continue with Augustine's review of the psalms, and for the first
time here see Psalm X.  Augustine applies the words of the psalmist to his
own day, as he considered the heresies that confronted unity within the
church. He wrote,

*"Why, O Lord," saith he, "hast Thou withdrawn afar off?" (ver. 1). Then he
who thus inquired, as if all on a sudden he understood, or as if he asked,
though he knew, that he might teach, adds, "Thou despisest in due seasons,
in tribulations:" that is, Thou despisest seasonably, and causest
tribulations to inflame men's minds with longing for Thy coming. For that
fountain of life is sweeter to them that have much thirst. Therefore he
hints the reason of the delay, saying, "Whilst the ungodly vaunteth himself,
the poor man is inflamed" (ver. 2). Wondrous it is and true with what
earnestness of good hope the little ones are inflamed unto an upright living
by comparison with sinners. In which mystery it comes to pass, that even
heresies are permitted to exist; not that heretics themselves wish this, but
because Divine Providence worketh this result from their sins, which both
maketh and ordaineth the light; but ordereth only the darkness, that by
comparison therewith the light may be more pleasant, as by comparison with
heretics the discovery of truth is more sweet. For so, by this comparison,
the approved, who are known to God, are made manifest among men. *

Last Friday I chatted with a dear centurion on Facebook through our OC
connections, and he mentioned a heresy that had been on his mind and spawned
by a recent book called the *Shack* and the author's treatment of the
Trinity.  Today as I read Augustine's comment on Psalm X, my friend's words
came to mind and so I decided to see for myself.  I came across this
review:
http://www.probe.org/site/c.fdKEIMNsEoG/b.4709781/k.5551/Critique_of_The_Shack.htm

You may find other reviews on the Internet that have a more favorable
critique: but I do believe we have nailed yet another heresy that is
manifested in our day; and that the is the heresy of "feminism" infused into
the doctrines of our faith. The idea of depicting the God of Abraham as a
black woman named Papa, Jesus as a contemporary craftsman of some sort from
the Middle East, and the Holly Ghost as an Asian woman, is just too much!
Piled upon this is the popular heresy that God is doing a new thing to
overthrow scripture.  That the God  named Papa suffered in the Passion, and
that all three were incarnate.

It should not be taken lightly, but recognized for what it is. Pure and
simple it seeks to overturn the faith of the church from the time of Genesis
to the revolutionary generation of the 1960s. It is a heresy that attempts
to put a distinctly feminine color on the Godhead in refutation of what the
Old and New Testaments have taught, and what the church has codified in the
Creeds.  

They say this book is a best seller. One compared to Bunyan's Pilgrim
Progress, which has become a classic. It reminds me a bit of the recent De
Vinci Code by Brown which caused such an uproar and was so popular among the
ignorant who accepted it as Gospel. It is on the top of the  New York Times
Best Seller List, for whatever that is worth, and so it has a broad
readership.  What is really serious though is what my friend's concern was.
When those who supposedly are trained theologians (supposed doctors of
theology and ministry) commend it from the pulpit, and do not condemn the
heresy it suggests (probably in the interest of political correctness, or
worse, a perverted theology), then we have the faithful being led astray.
Some very high profile folk have commended this. But beware, the devil has
a technique of saying things that are very convincing and in the shadows
planting the seed of the lie and of destruction.  The Trinitarian heresy is
just one of the problem in this novel by a layman; read the article to find
out more, and then let your friends who recommend this book know of the
dangers.

I pray this shall follow the same path as have so many heresies of the past
and will find itself in the dung heap of history. Yet, it serves this day
to deceive the ignorant and to challenge the faithful.  I pray it may serve
a better purpose, as Augustine indicates, to show the fallacy to the
faithful by comparison, and will help unite the elect of varying
denominations who recognize the dangers along with their brother Christians.

In conclusion, I call attention to our collect today. It is the 1549
translation of the ancient prayer found in the Gelasian sacramentary. Note
that it asks God to make us have a perpetual love and fear of God
(concurrently). Seems that a lot of supposed Christians ignore the fear part
of this, or else I think they would not dare to make heretical
pronouncements, even in fiction, against the Holy Trinity.  

Please note also that below the collect in the note,  I have included a link
to the Latin version of this prayer as it was received.  I hope to add this
feature in the future to the Latin-based prayers.

Finis

--
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Legio Christi-Ecclesia Militans
"Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things
wherewith one may edify another" [St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans 14:19]

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