Our Venerable Father and Confessor James, Bishop of Catania (813-20)
Isaiah 14:24-32; Genesis 8:21-9:7; Proverbs 11:19-12:6
Great Fast Day 22. Abstention from meat and foods that contain meat. According to liturgical prescriptions, the Divine Liturgy is not celebrated today.
Read Proverbs 11:19-12:6
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
The following is some commentary of St. John Chrysostom on the latter part of today’s selection from Proverbs. Needless to say, what he states of the wife can equally be stated of the husband. Chase after virtue!
When you are going to take a wife, do not only look for a companion in life but also for a companion in virtue. It is inevitable that the husband of a depraved wife perishes in the same way. Therefore look for virtue and not for money. And a well-behaved wife will become a crown of glory because she is strong; [whereas] an evil wife, as if a worm dwells inside her heart, will cause destruction gradually and silently. And what is even more dreadful is that this does not appear externally, but this sort of wife injects the poison inside and consumes an unhappy soul. In the opposite way, virtue adorns the one who follows it, whereas iniquity makes the iniquitous even more detestable. “The reflections of the righteous are judgments.” They are, in fact, discreet and simple: either because the righteous always reflect on the judgments and commands of God or because they always turn judgments over inside their mind. Our mind sits like a judge, judging the different virtues and arguing with the opposing vices, approving one, condemning the other. (Commentary on Proverbs, Fragment 12, 4)