Magnanimity And The Christian Life

Christianity has been accused of destroying the the Aristotelian virtue of Magnanimity since it lowers and crushes a man under the strict demands of the law. After all, how can a man think he is great-souled if he has been shown to be utterly unrighteous and a stinking pit of sin? Does not the condemnatory work of the law reduce all men to the same equal station?

Recently I have been considering this, and I hope to elaborate more on this as I get to think about it. My initial reaction to the above questions is that these accusations are false. The doctrine of vocation and its companion understanding of two kinds of righteousness preserves the Aristotelian virtue of magnanimity. While it is most certainly true that coram Deo we are all vile gross sinners whom Christ has died for, coram hominibus some men certainly are greater than others. It is most certainly evident that God gives his first article gifts out in varying degrees and men pursue excellence and refine their gifts in varying degrees. In light of these two realities, it seems that Christianity is compatible with the idea that coram hominibus some men simply are greater than others.

Trust Me, Just Go to Church.

Easter has just gone by again, and like last year it was less than pleasant for me. Like last year though I greatly rejoiced at the Ressurrection of our Lord, I was depressed. It has a been a long sucky period for me which ultimately has extended for nearly two years, and the sad circumstances were present and pressing in my mind even during the festivity of the holiday.

All of this has made me think about the importance of church attendance since  there have been days on which attending church and being around people has been the last thing I wished to do. A thousand reasons to exclude myself from church on Sunday come to mind, yet each Sunday I gather myself and attend church. Why? Shouldn’t I exclude myself until I am feeling better?

After I thought about this for a while, I realized that I attend church every Sunday because there, and no where else, God has promised to regularly give me his gifts of Word and Sacrament. While I can hear and read the Word at home and I could even listen to sermons there, it is only at church on Sunday that I can hear my pastor preach the Word to me, and it is only at church on Sunday that he can place the body and blood of our Lord into my mouth. But why are these two things so important, especially now for me?

The Word and the Sacrament are so important because they are the means by which God is sustaining my faith. Though I am still reeling, God has promised to sustain me, and he is doing that through his Word and Sacraments. By these very means, he protects me from the wiles of the devil, and he sustains and builds up my weak faith. So in this sucky phase of life, church on Sunday is exactly where I need to be even though I may not feel that way always.

The Value of the Psalter During Lent

The Psalter, which is a fancy title for the Psalms, is immensely valuable to the Christian at all times; however, during Lent it takes on a whole new value. Since many of the psalms are penitential in nature, it is excellent to read through the entire Psalter during the season of Lent. Psalm 6 is an excellent example of a penitential psalm:

⁴ Turn, O Lord, deliver my life;
    save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
⁵ For in death there is no remembrance of you;
    in Sheol who will give you praise?

⁶ I am weary with my moaning;
    every night I flood my bed with tears;
    I drench my couch with my weeping.
⁷ My eye wastes away because of grief;
    it grows weak because of all my foes.

We often think of giving up practices during Lent, and this is a fine practice; however, it is even better to pick up good habits during the season of Lent. Instead of simply giving up some pleasure, one could devote himself to a good habit such as praying Matins or Vespers every day during Lent. But while we are speaking of the Psalter, it would be an awesome Lenten practice to pick up reading the Psalter daily. In fact to read the entire Psalter during Lent, one would need to only read four Psalms each day.

I highly recommend picking up the habit of reading the Psalter during Lent, and Luther’s immense praise for the Psalter ought to further inspire one to read the Psalter:

The Psalter ought to be a dear and beloved book, if only because it promises Christ’s death and resurrection so clearly and so depicts His kingdom and the condition and nature of all of Christendom that we may call it a little Bible. Most beautifully and briefly it embraces everything in the entire Bible; it is made into a fine enchiridion, or handbook. Therefore, it seems to me that the Holy Spirit wanted to take the trouble of compiling a short Bible and a book of examples of all Christendom or of all saints, with this purpose in mind that whoever could not read the whole Bible would here have practically an entire summary of it comprised in one book… (Reading the Psalms with Luther)

Gerhard on the Remembrance of the Sins of Our Youth

Gerhard offers an excellent meditation on the sins committed during one’s youth:

O HOLY G OD , just Judge, do not remember the faults of my youth (Psalm 25:7). Do not recall any more the sins of my past (Jeremiah 31:34). The root of evil desire produced so much poison fruit in my childhood. The evil of original sin produced so many actual sins. The thoughts of my heart are depraved and perverse from earliest childhood, even from tender infancy (Genesis 6:5). If I were a day- old infant, in Your sight I would still not be innocent (Job 14:4). The faults and failures that weigh on me are as many as the days of my life; in fact, they are many more because even a righteous person falls seven times in a day (Proverbs 24:16). If a righteous person falls seven times in a day, I believe that I, hopeless and unrighteous, have fallen seventy times seven times in a day.

Life increased and the web of sins increased. However much You kindly added to the length of my life, my defective and corrupt nature added an equal amount to the weight of my sins. I look back at my life and find the most foul and filthy cloak of sins. When I compare the course of my life to the light of Your precepts, I find only darkness and blindness. My youth should have been picked like a tender young flower, worn as a crown of virtue, and offered to You as a fragrant scent. The best of my years should have belonged to You, the Creator of nature. But the filth of sins polluted that flower of my youth in the foulest way. The stinking filth of transgressions fouled it terribly and miserably. Of all our years, the earliest are the most apt time for us to serve God. However, I used most of mine to serve the devil. The memory of many sins committed in my promiscuous and uncontrolled youth weighs heavy on my mind. Worse yet, many more of these sins escape my memory. Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults (Psalm 19:12).

For the disobedience of my youth, I offer to You, holy Father, the obedience of Your Son. I offer to You the perfect innocence of the one who became obedient to You, even to death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:8). Even as a boy of twelve, Christ showed a holy obedience to You and followed Your will with great willingness (Luke 2:42). This obedience, O just Judge, I offer as the price and satisfaction for the great disobedience of my youth.

AMEN.

Meditations on Divine Mercy, Gerhard, Johann. Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis. 34

Gerhard in the Season of Lent

Gerhard’s meditations on sin make excellent devotionals during this time of lent, and so I hope to put several of them up as I pray them myself. Here is is his meditation on original sin:

O HOLY G OD , just Judge, I know that I am conceived and born in sin (Psalm 51:7). I know that I was formed from unclean seed in my mother’s womb (Job 14:4). The poison of sin has so corrupted and spoiled my entire nature that no power of my soul is free from its infection. The holy gift of the divine image entrusted to me by the first parent of our race has perished in me. I now have no ability to initiate a saving recognition, fear, trust, and love of You. I have no ability to obey Your commandments. My will is turned away from the Law. The law of sin in my members is opposed to the law of my mind so my entire nature is corrupt and perverted (Romans 7:23). I am wretched and miserable. I feel the assault of sin clinging tenaciously to every part of me. I feel the yoke of perverse desire weighing heavily on me. Although I have been regenerated and renewed in the washing of Baptism through the Spirit of grace (Titus 3:5), I am not totally free from the yoke and captivity of sin. That bitter root lurking in me always strives to shoot forth (Hebrews 12:15). The law of sin that rages in my flesh fights to capture me. I am full of doubts and distrust. I desire my own honor. From my heart come depraved thoughts that defile me in Your sight (Matthew 15:19). From a poisoned spring flow poison streams.

O Lord, do not enter into judgment with Your servant (Psalm 143:2). Instead, be gracious to me according to Your great mercy (Psalm 51:3). The depth of my wretchedness calls out for help to the depth of Your mercy (Psalm 42:8). I place before You the holy conception of Your Son in place of my foul, unclean nature. He was born for me, and He also was conceived for me (Isaiah 9:6). Your Son was made sanctification and righteousness for me (1 Corinthians 1:30), and He also was made my purification and purity. Because of Your Son and through Your Son, have mercy on me, O Most High. Do not place the hidden, evil corruption of my nature in the light of Your face (Psalm 90:8). Look to Your beloved Son, my mediator. May His most holy and unpolluted conception be the remedy for my miserable conception.

AMEN.

A Brief Comment on Marriage

I just finished rereading Louis L’Amour’s To the Far Blue Mountains, and I found this beautiful little comment on marriage: “It [marriage] is the ultimate test of maturity, and many find excuses for avoiding it because they are not up to the challenge, or capable of carrying on a mature relationship.” L’Amour’s comment on marriage is great. In a day in which marriage is viewed as antiquated and ridiculed and despised, it’s nice to be reminded that marriage is such a significant affair. All sins against the sixth commandment are easy and petty affairs, but marriage is truly the challenging and glorious thing. It, not countless petty relationships or notches on one’s belt, is the test of maturity. He, who marries and loves his wife as he has been given to do in the vocation of husband, shows himself to be truly mature.

A Prayer for the Increase of Gentleness from Gerhard

PRAYER FOR THE GIFT AND INCREASE OF GENTLENESS

O KINDEST L ORD , with great love for humanity, You invite us to repent and with long- suffering patience You await our conversion (Romans 2:4). Give me the riches of long- suffering patience and gentleness. When my neighbor does me the slightest harm, the fire of anger seethes in my heart. With humble sighs, I ask You by Your Spirit to put to death this habit of my flesh. What harsh reviling, harsher scourging, and harshest murdering Your beloved Son bore for my sake. When He was attacked by the reviler, He did not return the reviling (Luke 23:39). Instead, He committed everything to the one who justly judges all things (2 Peter 2:23). What arrogance it is, what obstinacy, that I, wretched and mortal, of the ashes and dust of the earth (Genesis 18:27), cannot bear the slightest harsh word or overcome the offense of my neighbor with a gentle heart.

“Learn, learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart,” You cry out, O most excellent Christ. With humble sighs, I implore You to take me into that practical school of the Spirit so I may learn gentleness. How I offend You, kindest Father, with many serious sins. I need daily forgiveness for them. Therefore, because I am a human creature, why should I harbor anger against another person, then dare to demand pardon from You, Lord of heaven and earth (Sirach 28:3)? Would it not be foolish to be unmerciful to a person who is like myself, then to ask forgiveness of my sins from You, Lord? I cannot hope for the forgiveness of my own sins if I cannot forgive my neighbor’s petty faults (Matthew 18:35).

O kindest Lord, great in mercy and long- suffering patience, give me the Spirit of patience and gentleness so I do not immediately become angry when my neighbor offends me. Instead, help me flee from that anger as from an enemy of the soul. If I carelessly become angry, help me to lay aside that anger quickly. May the brightness of the sun not set on my anger (Ephesians 4:26) so it will not depart as a witness to my rage. May sleep never fall on me when I am wrathful so sleep will not wrathfully hand me over to its sister, death.

If I want to retaliate against an enemy, why do I not turn against my own anger? Surely it is my greatest and most harmful enemy because it kills the soul and makes me liable to eternal death. Give me control of my mouth and wisdom in governing the actions of my life so I will not offend my neighbor by word or deed. Grant that I, through good deeds, may be a fragrant rose to my neighbor, not a piercing thorn of offenses and slanderings. O good Jesus, grant that I walk in the footsteps of Your gentleness and love my neighbor with a sincere heart.

AMEN.