Christian Art | Jesus Christ The King
Office Of Readings | Week 34, Wednesday, Ordinary Time | A Reading From The Homilies Attributed To Saint Macarius | Woe To The Soul Where Jesus Christ Does Not Dwell
‘Woe to the soul where Jesus Christ does not dwell.’
The reading attributed to Saint Macarius is built on a series of striking and sobering images that diagnose the condition of the soul without Christ. The preacher’s language is vivid, even severe, yet always in service of a pastoral aim: to awaken desire for the indwelling Lord who alone restores the soul to beauty.
Macarius begins with biblical history: when God withdrew his favour, Jerusalem was handed over to its enemies, its worship extinguished. This serves as a mirror for the soul. When a person turns away from God’s commandments, the soul becomes similarly desolate—its inner life disrupted, its dignity violated, its original calling disfigured. What was created to be a dwelling-place for God and his angels becomes instead a house without a master: darkened, disorderly, and filled with corruption. The preacher’s bluntness is not cruelty but diagnosis: the soul without Christ cannot retain purity or harmony, for it has lost its light.
The homily then unfolds a series of lamentations—Woe to the path… Woe to the soul… Woe to the house… Each image emphasises abandonment and vulnerability. A path untrodden becomes overrun by beasts; a field untended is choked with weeds; a ship without a pilot is swallowed by the sea. These are not exaggerations but spiritual analogies. Without the Lord walking within the soul, guiding and guarding it, sinful impulses grow wild, passions rise like storms, and the forces that oppose God find easy entry. The preacher wants the listener to sense the utter dependence of the soul on Christ, who alone brings order, peace, and fruitfulness.
But the reading does not end in lament; it turns decisively toward the work of redemption. Christ is portrayed as a divine farmer and king who approaches the devastated terrain of humanity. He ‘puts on’ the garment of flesh and takes up his tool—the cross—using it as a plough to break the hardened ground of the fallen heart. Here Macarius unites incarnation and passion into a single image of restorative labour. Christ removes thorns (evil spirits), uproots weeds (sin), and burns the straw (wickedness). Nothing is left to chance; everything that harms the soul is confronted and destroyed by the crucified Lord.
The result is not merely the removal of evil but the cultivation of good. Into the newly-tilled soil Christ plants ‘a most lovely garden of the Spirit’, a place of sweetness, delight, and abundant fruit. The sermon thus ends with hope: the soul once abandoned becomes, through grace, a garden where the Holy Spirit dwells, and from which God receives the fragrant fruits of virtue.
The message is clear and urgent: without Christ, the soul collapses into chaos; with Christ, it becomes a paradise. The reading warns in order to awaken longing, and it describes Christ’s labour in order to inspire trust. It invites the listener to allow the Lord not only to dwell within but to cultivate, cleanse, and transform the whole inner life.
A Reading From The Homilies Attributed To Saint Macarius | Woe To The Soul Where Jesus Christ Does Not Dwell
When God was displeased with the Jews, he delivered Jerusalem to the enemy, and they were conquered by those who hated them; there were no more sacrifices or feasts. Likewise angered at a soul who had broken his commands, God handed it over to its enemies, who corrupted and totally dishonoured it. When a house has no master living in it, it becomes dark, vile and contemptible, choked with filth and disgusting refuse. So too is a soul which has lost its master, who once rejoiced there with his angels. This soul is darkened with sin, its desires are degraded, and it knows nothing but shame.
Woe to the path that is not walked on, or along which the voices of men are not heard, for then it becomes the haunt of wild animals. Woe to the soul if the Lord does not walk within it to banish with his voice the spiritual beasts of sin. Woe to the house where no master dwells, to the field where no farmer works, to the pilotless ship, storm-tossed and sinking. Woe to the soul without Christ as its true pilot; drifting in the darkness, buffeted by the waves of passion, storm-tossed at the mercy of evil spirits, its end is destruction. Woe to the soul that does not have Christ to cultivate it with care to produce the good fruit of the Holy Spirit. Left to itself, it is choked with thorns and thistles; instead of fruit it produces only what is fit for burning. Woe to the soul that does not have Christ dwelling in it; deserted and foul with the filth of the passions, it becomes a haven for all the vices. When a farmer prepares to till the soil he must put on clothing and use tools that are suitable. So Christ, our heavenly king, came to till the soil of mankind devastated by sin. He assumed a body and, using the cross as his ploughshare, cultivated the barren soul of man. He removed the thorns and thistles which are the evil spirits and pulled up the weeds of sin. Into the fire he cast the straw of wickedness. And when he had ploughed the soul with the wood of the cross, he planted in it a most lovely garden of the Spirit, that could produce for its Lord and God the sweetest and most pleasant fruit of every kind.
Christian Prayer With Jesus Christ
O Christ our King and Gardener of souls,
enter the barren places of our hearts
and make them your dwelling once more.
Plough us with the wood of your holy cross,
tear out the thorns of sin,
and scatter the darkness that hides within.
Plant in us the garden of your Spirit,
that our lives may bear fruit pleasing to you—
faith, gentleness, purity, and love.
Remain our Master, our Pilot, and our Light,
lest we stray into ruin;
and bring us at last into the joy of your eternal kingdom,
you who live and reign forever and ever.
Amen.
Glossary Of Christian Terms
Indwelling
The presence of God within the soul; central to Macarius’ imagery of Christ dwelling, guiding, and cultivating the heart.
Passions
Disordered desires or emotions that can dominate the soul when not governed by grace.
Vices
Habitual sins or corrupted tendencies that take root in the soul when it is untended by God.
Fruit of the Holy Spirit
The virtues and graces—such as love, joy, peace, patience—produced in the soul through the Spirit’s action.
Incarnation
The mystery by which the Son of God took on human flesh; here described as Christ ‘putting on’ suitable clothing to work the soil of humanity.
The Cross as Ploughshare
A metaphor for Christ’s passion as the tool by which he breaks the hardness of the fallen heart and renews it.
Garden of Eden
Symbol of the soul restored to innocence, beauty, and communion with God.
Evil spirits
Spiritual adversaries that seek to influence the soul toward sin; represented as ‘thorns and thistles’.
Desolation
The state of the soul deprived of God’s presence—disordered, darkened, and vulnerable.
Regeneration
The new life bestowed by Christ through grace, transforming the soul into a place of spiritual fruitfulness.
Christian Art | Our Lord Jesus On The Cross | God The Father | God The Son Office Of Readings | Advent December 23rd | A Reading From The Treatise Of Saint Hippolytus Against The Heresy Of Noetus | The Hidden Sacrament Is Revealed ‘The hidden sacrament is revealed.’ In this reading, Saint Hippolytus writes against the Noetic heresy, which denied the real distinction between the Father and the Son by treating them as the same person acting under different names. The purpose of Saint Hippolytus is to defend the Church’s confession of one God who is not solitary, but who exists with his Word and Spirit. Hippolytus begins by setting a principle: knowledge of God comes from the Holy Scriptures, not from speculation or private reasoning. Faith is not shaped by human preference but by what God has chosen to reveal. The Father determines how He is believed, the Son how He is glorified, and the Spirit how He is received. This establishes Scripture as the rule of faith and guards against theological invention. Hippolytus then affirms that God existed alone before creation, with nothing co-eternal alongside Him. At the same time, God was not without reason, wisdom, or power. Hippolytus insists that plurality within God does not compromise divine unity. God contains within himself Word, wisdom, and counsel. Creation begins when God wills and manifests His Word. The Word is not created from nothing but proceeds from God and acts as the agent of creation. The Word is first invisible to the created world, though known to God. When God chooses, He makes the Word visible, described as ‘Light of Light’. This language safeguards both distinction and unity: the Word comes from God and reveals God, without being separate from Him. The manifestation of the Word is ordered towards salvation, so that the world may see and be saved. Hippolytus identifies this Word clearly with the Son of God. Through him all things were made, and he alone comes forth from the Father. The Law and the prophets belong to the same saving plan. God speaks through them by the Holy Spirit, so that they proclaim not their own ideas but the Father’s will. Revelation is therefore coherent: creation, prophecy, and incarnation belong to one divine purpose. Hippolytus appeals to the Gospel of John to show continuity between prophecy and fulfilment. The Word spoken of by the prophets is the Word made flesh. Though the world was made through him, it failed to recognise him. This failure does not negate God’s plan but reveals the depth of the mystery now disclosed. A Reading From The Treatise Of Saint Hippolytus Against The Heresy Of Noetus | The Hidden Sacrament Is Revealed There is, brethren, one God, the knowledge of whom we gain from the Holy Scriptures and from no other source. Whatever things the Holy Scriptures declare, at these let us look; and whatever they teach, let us learn it; and as the Father wills our belief to be, let us believe; and as he wills the Son to be glorified, let us glorify him; and as he wills the Holy Spirit to be bestowed, let us receive him. Not according to our own will, nor according to our own mind, nor yet storming by force the things which are given by God, but even as he has chosen to teach them by the Holy Scriptures, so let us discern them. God, subsisting alone, and having nothing coeval with himself, chose to create the world. And conceiving the world in mind, and willing and uttering the Word, he made it; and at once it appeared, formed it in the way he desired. For us it is sufficient simply to know that nothing was coeval with God. Outside him there was nothing; but he, while existing alone, yet existed in plurality. For he did not lack reason, or wisdom, or power, or counsel. All things were in him, and he was the All. At a time and in a manner chosen by him he made his Word manifest, and through his Word he made all things. He bears this Word in himself, as yet invisible to the created world. He makes him visible, uttering the voice first, and begetting him as Light of Light. He presents him to the world as its Lord; and whereas the Word was visible formerly to God alone, and invisible to the world which is made, God makes the Word visible in order that the world might see him and be able to be saved. This is the mind which came forth into the world and was manifested as the Son of God. All things came into being through him, and he alone comes from the Father. He gave us the Law and the prophets; and in giving them, he made them speak by the Holy Ghost, in order that, receiving the inspiration of the Father’s power, they might declare the Father’s counsel and will. Thus, then, was the Word made manifest, even as the blessed John says. For he sums up the things that were said by the prophets, and shows that this is the Word, by whom all things were made. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by him, and without him nothing was made. And later, The world was made by him, and the world did not know him; he came to his own, and his own did not receive him. Christian Prayer With Jesus Lord God,You are one, and from You come the Word and the Spirit.You have chosen to make Yourself known, not by human effort,but by what You have revealed in the scriptures. You spoke Your Word, and all things were made.You made that Word visible, so that the world might see and be saved.Grant that we may receive what You give,believe what You teach,and worship You as You have shown Yourself to be. Keep us […]
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