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Office Of Readings | Week 1, Friday, Ordinary Time | A Reading From The Discourse Of Saint Athanasius Against The Gentiles | Through The Word A Truly Divine Harmony Is Reached In All Things
‘The Word creates a divine harmony in creation.’
Saint Athanasius invites us to see creation not as a collection of disconnected parts, but as a single, living harmony held together by the Word of God. He begins with the words of Saint John’s Gospel: All things were made through him. This is the foundation of Christian faith about the world. Nothing exists by chance; everything exists because the Word – the Son of God – calls it into being and sustains it.
To help us grasp this mystery, Athanasius uses simple and beautiful images. He compares the universe to a lyre in the hands of a musician. Different notes, high and low, would be discordant if left to themselves. But in the hands of a skilled player they are brought into order and produce music. In the same way, the Word of God brings order, proportion, and meaning to the whole of creation.
Another image is that of a choir. People of different ages and voices sing together. Each sings according to his own nature, yet under one conductor they create a single harmony. The world, Athanasius says, is like this choir. Every creature has its own place and task, but all are directed by one divine will.
These examples teach an important truth. Diversity in creation is not a problem to be solved; it is part of God’s design. The many forms of life, the variety of peoples and cultures, the different gifts within the Church – all are meant to contribute to one harmonious whole. Unity does not destroy difference; it brings difference into right order.
Athanasius also reminds us that the Word does not struggle to govern creation. He ‘gives a gesture of command and everything falls into place’. The universe does not hold itself together by its own strength. It remains in being because the Word continually sustains it.
For Christians, this vision has practical meaning. If the Word of God brings harmony to the whole world, he can also bring harmony to our own lives. Where there is confusion, disorder, or conflict, he can restore balance. To live in faith is to allow our thoughts, actions, and desires to be tuned to his will, as notes are tuned to a musician’s hand.
The reading therefore calls us to wonder and gratitude. Creation is not a silent machine but a symphony directed by the living Word. To recognise this is to see the world with new eyes – as a place filled with meaning, order, and the quiet presence of God.
A Reading From The Discourse Of Saint Athanasius Against The Gentiles | Through The Word A Truly Divine Harmony Is Reached In All Things
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made. In these words John the theologian teaches that nothing exists or remains in being except in and through the Word.
Think of a musician tuning his lyre. By his skill he adjusts high notes to low and intermediate notes to the rest, and produces a series of harmonies. So too the wisdom of God holds the world like a lyre and joins things in the air to those on earth, and things in heaven to those in the air, and brings each part into harmony with the whole. By his decree and will he regulates them all to produce the beauty and harmony of a single, well-ordered universe. While remaining unchanged with his Father, he moves all creation by his unchanging nature, according to the Father’s will. To everything he gives existence and life in accordance with its nature, and so creates a wonderful and truly divine harmony.
To illustrate this profound mystery, let us take the example of a choir of many singers. A choir is composed of a variety of men, women and children, of both old and young. Under the direction of one conductor, each sings in the way that is natural for him: men with men’s voices, boys with boys’ voices, old people with old voices, young people with young voices. Yet all of them produce a single harmony. Or consider the example of our soul. It moves our senses according to their several functions so that in the presence of a single object they all act simultaneously: the eye sees, the ear hears, the hand touches, the nose smells, the tongue tastes, and often the other parts of the body act as well as, for example, the feet may walk.
Although this is only a poor comparison, it gives some idea of how the whole universe is governed. The Word of God has but to give a gesture of command and everything falls into place; each creature performs its own proper function, and all together constitute one single harmonious order.
Christian Prayer With Jesus Christ
Lord Jesus Christ,
eternal Word of the Father,
you created all things and hold them in being.
Bring your harmony into our lives
and order into our hearts.
Teach us to live in unity with one another
and in peace with all creation,
that our lives may give praise to you,
who live and reign forever and ever.
Amen
Glossary Of Christian Terms
The Word | The Son of God, through whom all things were made and in whom all creation is sustained.
Creation | The entire universe and everything in it, brought into being by God.
Harmony | The ordered unity of different parts working together as one whole.
Wisdom of God | The divine reason and purpose by which God guides and governs all things.
Incarnation | The mystery of the Word of God becoming man in Jesus Christ.
Providence | God’s continual care and guidance of the world he has made.
Divine will | God’s intention and purpose, by which he directs all creation.
Order | The arrangement of created things according to God’s plan.
Nature | The particular character and purpose given to each creature by God.
Gospel of John | The New Testament book that proclaims the Word made flesh and his role in creation and salvation.
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As they travel on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus throws his disciples into confusion by telling them about the suffering and death he must undergo. The disciples simply do not understand. For centuries, the Jews have awaited the coming of the Messiah, whom they envisaged as a glorious warrior king, not as one who would suffer and die the most ignominious of deaths, on a cross, of all things. A person condemned to die on a cross could not be the Messiah; rather, according to the Old Law, he had to be “cursed by God” (Deuteronomy 21: 22-23). The disciples cannot see the divine plan for our salvation, while the command for all who would be saved to ‘take up his cross and follow me’ must have seemed both strange and terrifying. To reassure his disciples, Jesus allows them to witness his glorious body through the transfiguration [ … ]
The poem describes a vivid allegory in which the Virtues are portrayed as a courtly assembly, seated in an orderly hierarchy, with Humility occupying the lowest but most crucial position. The scene is set on an ‘azure throne’, emphasizing the elevated and celestial nature of these qualities. Around this throne, animals and birds bring symbolic tokens, illustrating their inherent traits and how these can be transformed or appropriated by the Virtues. The interplay between the virtues, the animals, and the chaos that ensues offers a meditation on the delicate harmony required to maintain moral order, the dangers of pride and discontent, and the reconciling power of humility [ … ]
