Wednesday, May 18 : Saint Cyril of Alexandria

Because Christ wished to show his disciples how necessary it is to be rooted in love of him, and how beneficial it is to cling to him, he told them (…) that he was the vine, and that the branches of the vine were those who were united with him, and, so to speak, inserted in him so as to “participate in his nature” (2 Pt 1:4) through a share in the Holy Spirit; for we are made one with Christ the Savior by his Holy Spirit (…). For we have been reborn from him and in him, that is, in the Spirit, in order to bear the fruit of life; not the old life we used to live but the life that consists of newness of faith and of love for him. We are preserved in being if we grow on to him and cling fast to the holy commandment that has been handed down to us, and if we are eager to keep the blessing of nobility, that is to say, if we never consent in any way to “grieve the Holy Spirit” (Eph 4:30), who has come to dwell in us and through whom, we believe, God has made his home in us. (…) For just as the vine-stock supplies and distributes the virtue of its own inherent natural quality to the shoots, so, too, the only-begotten Word of God implants in his people a sort of affinity with his own nature and that of the Father. By the gift of the Spirit they are united with him by every kind of holiness. He nourishes them so that they become devout, and he moves them to knowledge of all virtue and good works.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team