Saturday, June 28, 2008

St. Irenaeus of Lyons

June 28 is the feast of St. Irenaeus of Lyons. From a preserved fragment of a lost work:

Know that every man is either empty or full. For if he has not the Holy Spirit, he has no knowledge of the Creator; he has not received Jesus Christ the Life; he knows not the Father who is in heaven; if he does not live after the dictates of reason, after the heavenly law, he is not a sober-minded person, nor does he act uprightly: such an one is empty. If, on the other hand, he receives God, who says, I will dwell with them, and walk in them, and I will be their God[Leviticus 26:12], such an one is not empty, but full.