Lent with the Early Church Fathers Day 18

Day 18

Lent with the Early Church Fathers

A daily post from Tom Bandy 

Based on A Year with the Church Fathers (Ed. Mike Aquilina, St. Benedict Press, 2010) 

Remember, your life belongs to God alone! 

Asterius of Amasea 

You possess an estate, having either inherited it from your fathers, or obtained it by some exchange. So call up in memory and count over, if you can, all who have occupied it before you. And direct your mind also to the time to come and think how many are to occupy it after you. Then tell me who owns it, and to whom does it especially belong – those who have had it, or those who now have it, or those who in the future are to have it? For if someone should in some way or other call them altogether, the owners would be found more numerous than the clods. 

Try to remember whether at some time you have seen a flourishing tree extending far enough in breadth and height to serve with that shadow the purpose of a shelter. You are glad to come under its shade, and there you remained as long as possible. And when it was necessary to move on, even as you are thinking of setting off again, another wayfarer appeared. You took up your luggage while he laid his down and appropriated all your conveniences – the bed of leaves, the fire, the shade of the tree, the water flowing by. And he began to recline and rest, while you resumed your walk. He, too, enjoyed the place and then left it. And that one tree was, in a single day, the temporary lodging place for perhaps 10 strangers. And that which was enjoyed by all belonged to but one owner. 

This also the abundance of our life here delights and supports many, but it belongs to God alone, who has imperishable and indestructible life. 

TGB: Are we not “guests” in our relationships and thoughts as well as in the physical world? The friends we have today may not be the same tomorrow, and every friend moves on to other friendships. We may commit to ideas today but see things differently tomorrow. Our relationships evolve; our ideas evolve. Only one relationship is eternal, and only one idea is absolute.