“... for you have tasted that the Lord is good.” (1 Peter 2:3.)
Saint Basil the Great offers the following insight on this verse from today's First Reading:
“Everywhere we notice that the various facets of the soul are designated by outward things. Thus when our Lord is described as the true bread and his flesh as the true food, we must understand this as meaning that the pleasure of right reason is like the taste of bread. Just as it is impossible for someone to know what honey is like simply by being told about it, because he must taste it in order to find out, so too the goodness of the heavenly bread is not properly communicated by teaching alone. We must taste the goodness of the Lord by our own experience.” (Catena)
Collect
O God,
Who never cease to bestow
the glory of holiness
on the faithful servants
You raise up for Yourself,
graciously grant
that the Holy Spirit
may kindle in us that fire
with which he wonderfully filled
the heart of Saint Philip Neri.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Who never cease to bestow
the glory of holiness
on the faithful servants
You raise up for Yourself,
graciously grant
that the Holy Spirit
may kindle in us that fire
with which he wonderfully filled
the heart of Saint Philip Neri.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
