Thursday, August 20, 2009

John Chrysostom: Scriptures are an Inexhaustible Treasure Trove

The question, you see, is not the number of things said and the number of days it has taken, but whether we are approaching the end of our treatment. Those who find a treasure, remember, even should they take many objects from it, do not desist until they have exhausted it, as it is natural for them to make it their own, not by taking many objects but by leaving nothing behind. Now, if those mad about money adopt such zeal in connection with things that perish and do not last, much more should we behave like that in regard to the divine treasures, not desisting until we have exhausted all that becomes obvious to us. I said what becomes obvious since it is beyond us to exhaust everything: the efficacy of the divine thoughts is an ever-flowing stream, never failing or running dry.

- John Chrysostom (around A.D. 347 to around A.D. 407), Homilies on Hannah, Homily 4, in St. John Chrysostom, Old Testament Homilies, Volume 1, p. 124 (2003), Robert C. Hill translator.