You are to “take my yoke upon you, and learn from me.” You are not learning from me how to refashion the fabric of the world, nor to create all things visible and invisible, nor to work miracles and raise the dead. Rather, you are simply learning of me: “that I am meek and lowly in heart.” If you wish to reach high, then begin at the lowest level. If you are trying to construct some mighty edifice in height, you will begin with the lowest foundation. This is humility. However great the mass of the building you may wish to design or erect, the taller the building is to be, the deeper you will dig the foundation. The building in the course of its erection rises up high, but he who digs its foundation must first go down very low. So then, you see even a building is low before it is high and the tower is raised only after humiliation.
Saint Augustine, Sermon 69.2, quoted in Manlio Simonetti (ed), Matthew 1 – 13, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture New Testament Ia, (InterVarsity Press, 2001) 232.
July 22, 2008 at 10:36 am
I don’t think I’ve ever read a quote by Augustine that hasn’t been profound and inspiring. Maybe I should stop reading quotes and get down to reading his actual works! I got his commentary on the Psalms for €3 a while back. Could be a good place to start.
July 22, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Phil, I know what you mean about the importance of reading actual works, it’s just a matter of finding the time. One very recent discovery of mine is listening to podcasts of Patristic works. There are valuable resources here:
http://marialectrix.wordpress.com/completed-religious-books/
But, as far as quotes go, we have recently acquired the volumes on the gospels of the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, and I’m finding it helpful reading at least some of the Patrisitc commentaries on the gospel of the day.
http://www.ivpress.com/accs/
July 22, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Macrina, that site is awesome!. Thank you so much. I may well try and get hold of a copy of the IVP book too …
July 23, 2008 at 12:48 pm
You’re welcome, Phil. It is indeed awesome. However, no sooner had I begun to rave about this than the new mp3 player that I had only just learnt to use decided to go totally unresponsive! This is when I hate technology…