St Anthony of Padua

I will hear what God the Lord will say;

For He will speak peace to His people,

to His godly ones;

But let them not turn back to folly.

Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him,

That glory may dwell in our land.

Lovingkindness and truth have met together;

Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

Truth springs from the earth,

And righteousness looks down from heaven.

Psalm 85 [84]:9-11

 

For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:6 NASB

 

. . .

 

It won't be the first time I observe that the 'truth [that] springs from the earth' begs for a Christological reading. The whole exchange of intimacy between love and truth, righteousness and peace, it seems to me, signals the righting of the relationship between Creator and creation. It is the work of the incarnation, accomplished in Christ.

 

But I confess I never attended carefully enough to the preceding verse. Together with the passage from 2 Corinthians (which runs from 3:15 to 4:6), the Christological significance is hard to miss. The glory of The Lord comes to dwell in the land ('and we have beheld his glory...' John's gospel says), and in our hearts. (I can't help but add, though, that we have this treasure in earthen vessels--so says 2 Cor 4:7--so that the power is seen as coming from God and not from us.)

 

Glory. It is the glory of God that is revealed in the meeting of lovingkindess and truth, in the kiss of justice and peace. The glory of God is in Christ. And it looks like love.

 

Deo gratias.