Monday. [II Cor. 12:10-19; Mark 4:10-23

   The Lord breathed the breath of life, and man became the image of God. It is the same with one’s own rebirth: the beginnings of a new life are set down and one’s image is renewed by the breath of the Spirit of God; and whence and how it comes is not known. This is a point of departure; from here the work begins of raising up the image to a perfect likeness. When we are reborn according to the image of the Creator by the Lord’s Spirit we are transfigured from glory to glory, but not without us, our work and effort; however it is God who creates and restores us by the grace of the Most Holy Spirit, according to faith in the Lord. Behold the ideal and method of fulfilling in oneself the image and likeness of God! People so often write about and discuss upbringing. Meanwhile, it is all determined in the word of God by several words. Undertake only to fulfil what is prescribed, and upbringing will go on successfully to the goal. This is God’s path; but it does not exclude human paths—to the contrary, it gives them direction and crowns their success. When only the human remains, upbringing usually is insufficient, even detrimental, and not rarely totally perverts those being raised; then the rest of life goes crooked. Where those raised in a crooked manner multiply, all of society becomes more and more crooked, both in life and in its attitudes. The end is universal crookedness; one bends in one direction, then another bends in another.

Tuesday. [II Cor. 12:20-13:2; Mark 4:24-34]

   The parable about the gradual growth of wheat from seed portrays, with respect to each man, the gradual growth of what is hidden in a man’s heart, sown and watched over by God’s grace, while with respect to mankind—the gradual increase in the body of the Church or the community of those saved in the Lord Jesus Christ, according to the order established by Him. Through this parable the question is settled: why to this day is Christianity not universal? Just as a man who has cast seed into the ground sleeps and rises, and the seed sprouts and grows up on its own without his knowing how, so the Lord, placing the seed of Divine life on the ground has given it freedom to spread on its own, subordinating it to the natural flow of events, and not forcing them. He only watches over the seed, assists it in individual circumstances and gives the general direction. The reason for this lies in man’s freedom. The Lord wants man to submit to Him on his own, and awaits the inclination of his freedom; this affair takes time. If all depended only on God’s will, everyone would have been a Christian long ago. Another thought: the body of the Church is being created in heaven; from the earth enter only materials, formed also by heavenly agents. The word passes over the earth from heaven and attracts those who desire it. Those who take heed and follow enter, like raw material, into God’s laboratory, the Church, and here are remade according to patterns given from heaven. Those who are remade, upon departure from this life, pass into heaven and there enter into the house of God, each where he is fit. This goes on continuously, and consequently the work of God does not stand still. A universal solemn celebration of Christianity is not required for this. The house of God is created invisibly.