Merry Christmas! God bless us, every one.
May he who deigned to be born in a cavern and laid in a manger for us and for our salvation, Christ our true God, through the prayers of his Most Pure Mother, of the holy, glorious, and all-laudable apostles, of the shepherds in the fields, and the Magi from the East: have mercy on us and save us for he is good and loves mankind!
For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we preached among you … was not Yes and No; but in him is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why we utter the Amen through him, to the glory of God. (2 Cor. 1:19-20)
Christ is the fulfilment, the “YES!” to every promise the Father has made. Christ is the realization of everything Israel hoped for in the Old Testament. Because Christ is the Father’s YES to us, we can–in Christ–say yes (AMEN) to the Father.
Paul’s preaching promised many things. He talked about being raised to life again and of being taken up into heaven. He talked about incorruption and those great rewards which awaited them. These promises abide unchanging …. They are always coming true.
St. John Chrysostom, Homily 3 on II Corinthians
Amen is a word that people often seem to think means “the end” at church. I have heard readers add “Amen” to the conclusion of almost any text as a way to announce, “I have finished the reading.” But Amen does not mean, “I’m done;” Amen means, “Yes! I agree! You took the words right out of my mouth. I ratify and endorse everything you have said!”
That’s why we respond Amen to a prayer. We endorse what the pray-er has offered on our behalf, especially a priest who speaks on our behalf, on behalf of the whole Church and also speaks on God’s behalf to us: “We endorse what you have said over these Holy Gifts of bread and wine!” “We ratify what you have said and make those words our own words as well!” “Yes!”
AMEN is one of the most important words in the world, for it expresses the agreement of the Church to follow Christ in his ascension to his Father, to make this ascension the destiny of man. It is Christ’s gift to us, for only in him can we say Amen to God, or rather he himself is our Amen to God and the Church is an Amen to Christ. Upon this Amen the fate of the human race is decided. It reveals that the movement toward God has begun.
Fr. Alexander Schmemann, For the Life of the World
The AMEN to the Eucharistic Prayer, the anaphora, is the seal of the prayer in which we ascend to the Kingdom and give thanks for all that has been done, is being done, and will be done by the Holy Trinity on our behalf. To ratify that movement, that ascension, is the single most important thing we can ever do.
For we write you nothing but what you can read and understand; I hope you will understand fully, as you have understood in part, that you can be proud of us as we can be proud of you, on the day of the Lord Jesus. (2 Cor. 1:13-14)
St. Paul tells the Corinthians that he trusts them to understand what he is writing to them, just as they have understood what he has already taught them. He wants them to be proud of him as their spiritual father, just as he is proud of them as his spiritual children. After some of the things he said in First Corinthians, it sounds surprising that he says he is proud of them. But like any father, he is proud of his children despite their misunderstandings and problematic behavior.
Ambrosiaster, a Bible commentary writer in the AD 300s, said, “Paul asserts that his boasting over his disobedient children is noticed and that this will be to their advantage on the day of judgement.” On the day of the Lord Jesus, i.e. Judgement Day, Paul will boast of his Corinthian spiritual offspring and that will win them a favorable judgement from Christ. Paul’s pride in his spiritual children will overcome any doubts the Lord has about their suitability for his Kingdom.
Paul cuts at the root of the envy which his speech might occasion by making the Corinthians sharers and partners in the glory of his good works.
St. John Chrysostom (d. AD 407
But the apostle also says that he is not simply covering over their misbehavior with false pride. They share in his ministry by supporting him, listening to him, responding to him, correcting themselves based on his instructions. No one should be jealous that he is saying good things about them just because he wants to put on a face of false bravado.
They have understood his teaching in the past and he is confident they will understand his teaching now. True understanding involves a real response. The Corinthians didn’t just say, “Yes, yes” and then ignore what St. Paul had said. They might have disagreed or argued with him at first but when they understood his points, they responded by putting their understanding into action.
This correlation of understanding and action is at the heart of what St. Benedict wrote in his six-century Rule. A true monk — i.e. a real Christian — listens to his teacher and that listening involves action in response. “Listening” is not a passive activity; sound waves don’t enter your ears and then get forgotten. Listening is a very active process, in which the monk — or lay Christian in the world — hears the teaching, chews on it, mulls it over, and then integrates the teaching into his/her behavior.
Many times in the Psalms this point is also made: to hear is to act (Ps. 40, 45, 85). Jesus makes the same point: he listens to the Father and his listening results in his obedient action. Truly listening, the speaker and the hearer each want the same thing, they have one will. Authentic fellowship, i.e. communion, results.