God is pleased to dwell in us

 God is pleased to dwell in us.  "God is not too grand to come, he is
not too fussy or shy, he is not too proud--on the contrary he is
pleased to come if you do not displease him. Listen to the promise he
makes. Listen to him indeed promising with pleasure, not threatening
in displeasure, "We shall come to him," he says, "I and the Father."
To the one he had earlier called his friend, the one who obeys his
precepts, the keeper of his commandment, the lover of God, the lover
of his neighbor, he says, "We shall come to him and make our abode
with him."
 by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D (excerpt from Sermon 23,6)

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May 2nd - St. Athanasius

The young Athanasius, whom the children designated as "bishop",
performed the Baptism, precisely repeating the words he heard in
church during this sacrament. Patriarch Alexander observed all this
from a window. He then commanded that the children and their parents
be brought to him. He conversed with them for a long while, and
determined that the Baptism performed by the children was done
according to the Church order. He acknowledged the Baptism as real and
sealed it with the sacrament of Chrismation (sometimes called
confirmation is the holy mystery by which a baptized person is granted
the gift of the Holy Spirit through anointing with oil). From this
moment, the Patriarch looked after the spiritual upbringing of
Athanasius and in time brought him into the clergy, at first as a
reader, and then he ordained him as a deacon. It was as a deacon that
St. Athanasius accompanied Patriarch Alexander to the First Ecumenical
Council at Nicaea [1]in the year 325. At the Council, St. Athanasius
refuted the heresy of Arius. His speech met with the approval of
the Orthodox Fathers of the Council, but the Arians, those openly and
those secretly so, came to hate Athanasius and persecuted him for the
rest of his life.

After the death of holy Patriarch Alexander, St. Athanasius was
unanimously chosen as his successor in the See of Alexandria. He
refused, accounting himself unworthy, but at the insistence of all the
Orthodox populace that it was in agreement, he was consecrated bishop
when he was twenty-eight, and installed as the archpastor of the
Alexandrian Church. St. Athanasius guided the Church for forty-seven
years, and during this time he endured persecution and grief from his antagonists. Several times he was expelled from Alexandria and hid
himself from the Arians in desolate places, since they repeatedly
tried to kill him. St. Athanasius spent more than 20 years in exile,
returned to his flock, and then was banished again. There was a time
when he remained as the only Orthodox bishop in the area, a moment
when all the other bishops had fallen into heresy. At the false
councils of Arian bishops he was deposed as bishop. Despite being
persecuted for many years, the saint continued to defend the purity of
the Orthodox Faith.

He wrote countless letters and tracts against the Arian heresy.

When Julian the Apostate (361-363) began a persecution against
Christians, his wrath first fell upon St. Athanasius, whom he
considered a great pillar of Orthodoxy. Julian intended to kill the
saint in order to strike Christianity a grievous blow, but he soon
perished himself. Mortally wounded by an arrow during a battle, he
cried out with despair: "You have conquered, O Galilean."

After Julian's death, St. Athanasius guided the Alexandrian Church for
7 years and died in 373, at the age of 76.

Numerous works of St. Athanasius have been preserved; four Orations
against the Arian heresy; also an Epistle to Epictetus, bishop of the
Church of Corinth, on the divine and human natures in Jesus Christ;
four Epistles to Serapion, Bishop of Thmuis, about the Holy Spirit and
His Equality with the Father and the Son, directed against the heresy
of Macedonius. Other apologetic works in defense of Orthodoxy have
been preserved, among which is the Letter to the emperor Constantius.
St. Athanasius wrote commentaries on Holy Scripture, and books of a
moral and didactic character, as well as a biography of St. Anthony
the Great (January 17), with whom St. Athanasius was very close. St.
John Chrysostom advised every Orthodox Christian to read this Life.

[1]Council of Nicaea

First Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church, held in 325 on the
occasion of the heresy of Arius (Arianism). As early as 320 or 321 St. Alexander(Born c. 250; died 326-328/), Bishop of Alexandria, convoked
a council at Alexandria at which more than one hundred bishops from
Egypt and Libya anathematized Arius. The latter continued to officiate
in his church and to recruit followers. Being finally driven out, he
went to Palestine and from there to Nicomedia.)

Comment:
Athanasius suffered many trials while he was bishop of Alexandria. He
was given the grace to remain strong against what probably seemed at
times to be insurmountable opposition. Athanasius lived his office as
bishop completely. He defended the true faith for his flock,
regardless of the cost to himself. In today’s world we are
experiencing this same call to remain true to our faith, no matter
what.

Quote:
The hardships Athanasius suffered in exile, hiding, fleeing from place
to place remind us of what Paul said of his own life: “[O]n frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from
my own race, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in
the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers; in toil
and hardship, through many sleepless nights, through hunger and
thirst, through frequent fastings, through cold and exposure. And
apart from these things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my
anxiety for all the churches” (2 Corinthians 11:26-28).

Bible Quote:
Even a fool, if he will hold his peace, shall be counted wise: and if
he close his lips, a man of understanding.   [Proverbs 17:28] DRB


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DEAR JESUS, help me to spread Thy fragrance everywhere I
go. Flood my soul with Thy spirit and love. Penetrate and
possess my whole being so utterly that all my life may only
be a radiance of Thine. Shine through me and be so in me
that every soul I come in contact with may feel Thy presence
in my soul. Let them look up and see no longer me but only
Jesus. Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as you
shine, so to shine as to be a light to others.

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