When you see a poor man, do not pass by, but immediately consider what you would desire if you were that poor man. What would you not wish all to do for you?
VERS. 18. Little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
It does not even suffice to have offered service, but [this must be done] with liberality and not with sorrowful benevolence, but rather not only without sorrow, but with a cheerful and joyful mind.
CAP. IV.
VERS. 8. He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love.
And what sort of love does he mean? That which is sincere, and not that which terminates in words. It is certainly that which proceeds from the mind and will and experiences pity from a pure heart. For there is also a love among the wicked: thus thieves love thieves, and murderers love murderers. But this love is not from a good conscience, but from a bad one.
SUPPLEMENT TO THE LITURGY OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM.
(Goar, Rituale Græcorum, edit. Paris. 1647, p. 783.)
A Chrysostom’s prayer for those suffering from demons and every infirmity.
Let us pray to the Lord.
O eternal God, who hast delivered the race of mankind from the captivity of the devil, deliver thy servant from every operation of unclean spirits; command the wicked and unclean spirits and demons to depart from the soul and body of this thy servant, and not to remain or hide within him. May they be put to flight in thy holy name, and that of thine only-begotten Son, and of thy life-giving Spirit, from the creature of thy hands. That having been cleansed from every diabolical influence, he may live holily, justly, and godly, being accounted worthy of the immaculate mysteries of thine only-begotten Son and our God, with whom thou art blessed and glorified, together with thy most holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Another prayer of the same.
Let us pray to the Lord.
Thou who rebukest all unclean spirits, and by the power of thy word didst cast out the legion, manifest thyself now through thine only-begotten Son upon this creature whom thou didst create in thine image, and deliver it from the one by whom it is oppressed; that having received mercy from thee, it may be cleansed and gathered into thy holy fold, and may be preserved as a living temple of the holy Spirit and of the divine and immaculate sacraments, by the grace and mercies and philanthropy of thine only-begotten Son, with whom thou art blessed, together with thy most holy and good and life-giving Spirit, D now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.