‘Christ Comes and Refreshes Me’

One who does not find pleasure in these sights in sacred Scripture turns to fables, because he cannot bear sound doctrine. The fables have an attraction for childish minds in people of all ages; but we who are already the body of Christ should recognize our own voice in the Psalm and say, “O Lord, the wicked have told me pleasant things, but not as your law” (Ps 118, 85). But while I pantingly search everywhere in the Scriptures, in that sweat Adam earned for me, Christ comes and refreshes me either openly or hiddenly. With its very difficulty he increases my desire to discover him to that what I find I eagerly devour and for my salvation keep it in the marrow of my bones. (Contra Faustum, 12, 27; PL 42, 269)

Rev. Joseph A. Komonchak, professor emeritus of the School of Theology and Religious Studies at the Catholic University of America, is a retired priest of the Archdiocese of New York.