St. Mark the Ascetic, from 'On Those Who Think that They are Made Righteous by Works: Two Hundred and Twenty-Six Texts'
65. When you have found that external events come to you through God's justice, then in your search for the Lord you have found 'spiritual knowledge and justice' (cf. Prov. 16:8. LXX).
66. Once you recognize that the Lord's judgments 'are in all the earth' (1 Chr. 16:14), then everything that happens to you will teach you knowledge of God.
67. Everyone receives what he deserves in accordance with his inner state. But only God understands the many different ways in which this happens.
Bonhoeffer makes the point about God being on the sinner’s side and the child’s side in the Barcelona lecture “Jesus Christ and the Essence of Christianity.”
“Closer examination, however, reveals a surprising picture. He who was seemingly so unapproachable, who came with his razor-sharp either-or, now appears not among the ascetics or moral heroes or Pharisees, but rather among two groups of people hitherto living completely unnoticed beneath the surface, people who seemed least able to fulfill his severe demands. Jesus turns his attention to children and to the morally and socially least of these..”
Amen. Thank you.
St. Mark the Ascetic, from 'On Those Who Think that They are Made Righteous by Works: Two Hundred and Twenty-Six Texts'
65. When you have found that external events come to you through God's justice, then in your search for the Lord you have found 'spiritual knowledge and justice' (cf. Prov. 16:8. LXX).
66. Once you recognize that the Lord's judgments 'are in all the earth' (1 Chr. 16:14), then everything that happens to you will teach you knowledge of God.
67. Everyone receives what he deserves in accordance with his inner state. But only God understands the many different ways in which this happens.
Bonhoeffer makes the point about God being on the sinner’s side and the child’s side in the Barcelona lecture “Jesus Christ and the Essence of Christianity.”
“Closer examination, however, reveals a surprising picture. He who was seemingly so unapproachable, who came with his razor-sharp either-or, now appears not among the ascetics or moral heroes or Pharisees, but rather among two groups of people hitherto living completely unnoticed beneath the surface, people who seemed least able to fulfill his severe demands. Jesus turns his attention to children and to the morally and socially least of these..”