Christian Art | George Herbert | The Temple | The Church | The Holy Scriptures (1)
George Herbert | The Temple | The Church | The Holy Scriptures (1)
Oh Book! infinite sweetnesse! let my heart
Suck ev’ry letter, and a hony gain,
Precious for any grief in any part;
To cleare the breast, to mollifie all pain.
Thou art all health, health thriving, till it make
A full eternitie: thou art a masse
Of strange delights, where we may wish and take.
Ladies, look here; this is the thankfull glasse,
That mends the lookers eyes: this is the well
That washes what it shows. Who can indear
Thy praise too much? thou art heav’ns lieger here
Working against the states of death and hell.
Thou art joyes handsell: heav’n lies flat in thee,
Subject to ev’ry mounters bended knee.
George Herbert | The Temple | The Church | The Holy Scriptures (1)
In this poem, George Herbert reflects on the Bible, addressing it as a source of spiritual richness, healing, and profound wisdom. The poem opens with a direct address, calling the Bible an ‘infinite sweetness’ that nourishes the heart, suggesting that its contents offer a spiritual sustenance likened to honey, a substance both soothing and medicinal. Herbert compares the Bible’s words to a form of healing that reaches into any grief or pain one may experience, with the power to bring comfort and relief to the soul.
The poet expands this idea by describing the Bible as a wellspring of ‘health thriving’, one that ultimately leads to ‘a full eternity’. This line indicates Herbert’s belief in the Bible as a path to eternal life, where the scriptures are not only a source of comfort in this life but also serve as preparation for a life beyond. Herbert then characterizes the Bible as ‘a mass of strange delights’, a place where one can ‘wish and take’. This phrasing suggests that readers can find answers, inspiration, or even solace in its pages—whatever they may seek, they are free to discover within its text. For Herbert, the Bible is also a transformative mirror, ‘the thankful glass, that mends the lookers’ eyes’, meaning it not only reflects the inner state of the reader but also refines and clarifies their perspective.
Herbert explores a range of metaphors to emphasize the Bible’s unique qualities. It is a ‘well that washes what it shows’, implying a spiritual cleansing that purifies the reader’s vision, thoughts, or character. He questions if the praise given to the Bible could ever be sufficient, as he considers it ‘heaven’s lieger here’, suggesting that the Bible is an ambassador from heaven, acting on behalf of God within the earthly realm. In this role, the Bible works ‘against the states of death and hell’, an idea that emphasizes its power as a spiritual safeguard, offering divine protection and countering the forces of spiritual darkness.
Herbert also presents the Bible as an anticipation of divine joy, describing it as ‘joy’s handsell’—a foretaste of heavenly joy. This suggests that engaging with the Bible provides glimpses of the fulfillment promised in heaven. Herbert portrays the Bible as containing ‘heaven… flat in thee’, implying that it lays the essence of divine truth and joy within reach for those who read it. Lastly, the Bible is ‘subject to every mounter’s bended knee’, meaning that it is accessible to any person who humbles themselves in devotion and seeks its wisdom.
Through such imagery, Herbert presents the Bible as more than a religious text; it is a living, active presence of God’s grace, comfort, and wisdom. By engaging deeply with it, readers not only gain moral or spiritual insight but also align themselves with eternal life. The poem underscores the Bible’s unique role as a guide, healer, and bridge to the divine. For Herbert, it is a profound and dynamic entity, meeting believers at their level and lifting them towards a higher, eternal relationship with God.
Saint Maximus the Confessor interprets Christ’s saying about the lamp set upon a lamp stand (Matthew 5:15; Luke 8:16) as a theological statement about the Incarnation and the Church. The ‘lamp’ is Christ himself — the eternal Word of the Father, who has taken human nature and become visible within creation. The imagery unites revelation and embodiment: divine wisdom, formerly hidden, is now manifest through the humanity of Jesus [ … ]
The disciples receive the universal apostolic mandate, commanded by Jesus to take the good news to the whole world, to preach to everyone. This apostolic mission applies to the Church to this day. It applies to the whole Church, laity included. All members of Christ’s body share the Christian vocation to lead others to faith in Christ, to be instruments or vehicles of salvation for others. We are to take the good news to everyone, through our words, through our works, by example [ … ]
On Tuesday, His Grace turns to the theme of Jesus’ hidden years. His Grace asks the students to consider questions concerning what really happened: ‘Who, for instance, was Joseph? Was he indeed a carpenter, or has Joseph’s true role in the society in which he lived been misconstrued and forgotten to us? Though it be a beautiful, simplifying image to grasp, which offers to us much that is of value in Catholic faith… ‘A wise elder, which carpenter could mean, or a great engineer, an architekton, which in the Greek does not mean carpenter. But carpenter in the Hebrew could mean a wise man…’ His Grace turns the pages of his Bible back and forth, as if to itemize the paucity of information. Then he says: ‘What I think I can say to you with confidence is that it is of profound significance that we simply don’t know what Jesus was doing for most of his earthly life. There are some very different possibilities. One idea cherished by the Church is that Jesus worked with his father Joseph as a carpenter. Another possibility is that Jesus lived and prayed and studied closely with John the Baptist. They were cousins, and very close, almost the same, in age. Luke’s Gospel tells us clearly that Jesus and John knew each other from within the womb before they were born. So there may have been something quite important happening there. You see, we don’t know – it is an impossible mystery to us – just how much Jesus had to learn. This is because, if Jesus knew everything, humanly speaking, even as a tiny baby, then how can we say he is fully human? We simply can’t probe too far into this mystery, but we can draw extraordinary truth and healing from this thought, which becomes of immense relevance in our own lives. Jesus came to know and to understand himself not merely as a son of God, but as God the Son, and so as self-identical with his Father. It is not an adoptive relationship. Jesus is God. Now so much is hidden here. But this is a great gift. If you think about it, how do we come to know that we are loved by God, that we have our relationship with God? What are we born with in here’ – his chest – ‘and what do we have to learn? This is to say, what is gifted to us by other Christians at our baptism? ‘Jesus must have studied, and experienced profound revelation about who and what he truly was, and, so it seems to be, these studies cannot have been confined to the Semitic world. But this is the important point: there is a hiddenness about all of this. No matter which schools and which sects our Lord might have encountered all these years, this to us is as a desert space. What this means is that we can enter into the hidden life of Jesus, and there we can discover our own being with God, our own sonship. Our own particular being loved by God can come to us, if we can enter within this great unknown – into this desert space, where we are loved by Jesus. I firmly believe that there may be a great Lenten mystery in this period of our Lord’s life.’ A Bishop’s Lenten Homily | Extracted From The Gospel According To Tomàs | Faith And Hope And Love And Sexuality | Part 1 A Bishop’s Lenten Homily | Extracted From The Gospel According To Tomàs | Faith And Hope And Love And Sexuality | Part 2 A Bishop’s Lenten Homily | Extracted From The Gospel According To Tomàs | Faith And Hope And Love And Sexuality | Part 3 A Bishop’s Lenten Homily | Extracted From The Gospel According To Tomàs | Faith And Hope And Love And Sexuality | Part 4 | King James Audio Bible | KJV A Bishop’s Lenten Homily | Extracted From The Gospel According To Tomàs | Faith And Hope And Love And Sexuality | Part 5 A Bishop’s Lenten Homily | Holy Week | Extracted From The Gospel According To Tomàs | Faith And Hope And Love And Sexuality | Part 6
