FIRE OF MERCY, HEART OF THE WORD
Meditations on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew
Foreword, Volume I by Louis Bouyer
Foreword, Volume II by J. Montaldo and M. Claussen
Volumes I–III
(Chapters 1–25)
IGNATIUS PRESS | SAN FRANCISCO |
Volume 1, Fire of Mercy, Heart of the Word: Meditations on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, Chapters 1–11
Cover by Roxanne Mei Lum
Cover art:
“Christ the Good Samaritan”
Codex Rossanensis, mid-sixth-century
Kunstverlag Maria Laach
© 1996 Ignatius Press, San Francisco
All rights reserved
ISBN 978-0-89870-558-4
Library of Congress catalogue number 95-75664
Volume 2, Fire of Mercy, Heart of the Word: Meditations on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, Chapters 12–18
Cover design by Roxanne Mei Lum
Cover art:
“Washing of the Feet”
Codex Rossanensis, mid-sixth-century
Kunstverlag Maria Laach
© 2003 Ignatius Press, San Francisco
All rights reserved
ISBN 0-89870-976-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 95075664
Volume 3, Fire of Mercy, Heart of the Word: Meditations on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, Chapters 19–25
Cover art:
Entry into Jerusalem
Codex Rossanensis
Biblioteca Arcivescovile
Rossano, Italy
© Erich Lessing/Art Resource, New York
Cover design by Roxanne Mei Lum
© 2012 Ignatius Press, San Francisco
All rights reserved
ISBN 978-1-58617-698-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2012933886
Christ and Thomas (detail)
MIREYA
al cariño entrañable de
CHRISTIANE, ADRIANA y ALEXIS
a mis queridos padres y hermanos
ERASMO y JOANNA, CARLOS y HELENI
y a la venerada memoria
del P. HANS URS VON BALTHASAR
intellectus spiritalis magister
ויהי דבריך לי
לשׂשׂון ולשׂמחת לבבי׃
Thy words were found and I ate them, and thy words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart.
Qui nous atteindrait sur cette poitrine d’où toute lumière est issue?
Who could ever harm us resting on this breast from which all of light has come forth?
Georges Bernanos, to his fiancée
Ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν πῦρ καταναλίσκον.
Our God is a consuming fire.
St. John reclining on Jesus’ breast
TO MY CISTERCIAN BROTHERS OF CONYERS, NEW MELLERAY, AND SPENCER
in osculo pacis et Christi amoris
AND TO THE CHERISHED MEMORY OF KANELLA MERIKAKIS (1915–2002)
αἰωνία ἡ μνήμη
In peace indeed had Simeon made his bed. For, driving out all other cares, in his heart he pondered Jesus alone, and there he laid Him down when he received Him. He went out daily with every desire to meet Him who was drawing close.
—Guerric of Igny
The Father of all things is a beloved Kingdom. Whoever finds himself in Him and establishes his dwelling in Him will find his joy in living as a stranger, because his delicious food will be the beauty of the Father’s Face.
—Evagrius Ponticus
O adorable Face! Forgetting our exile on the shore of the rivers of Babylon, we will sing to your ears the sweetest of melodies. Since you are our hearts’ true and sole Fatherland, our songs will not be sung in an alien ...
|
About Fire of Mercy, Heart of the Word: Meditations on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, Volumes 1–3: Chapters 1–25To the unstudied eye, St. Matthew’s Gospel can seem a terse narrative, almost a historical document and not the tremendously spiritual (and doctrinal) storehouse that it is. In these three volumes on Matthew, Erasmo Leiva shows Matthew’s prose to be not terse so much as economical—astoundingly so given its depth. The lay reader can derive great profit from reading this. Each short meditation comments on a verse or two, pointing to some facet of the text not immediately apparent, but rich with meaning. Leiva’s work is scholarly but eminently approachable by the lay reader. The tone is very much of “taste and see how good the Lord is” and an invitation of “friend, come up higher!” These volumes help the reader experience the heat of the divine heart and the light of the divine Word. Leiva points to Matthew’s Gospel as being deeply ecclesial because it is first Christological. Leiva comments on the Greek text, demonstrating nuances in the text that defy translation. He uses numerous quotes from the Fathers and the Liturgy of the Church to demonstrate the way the Tradition has lived and read the Word of God. His theological reflection vivifies doctrine by seeking its roots in the words and actions of Jesus. |
| Support Info | frmrcyhrtwrd |