Today, we celebrate the feast of St. John Chrysostom, a Doctor of the Church and a Bishop, who authored many homilies, letters, treatises, essays, and commentaries on the Scriptures and various other aspects of our faith. He is known for his great skills as an orator; in fact, Chrysostom means “gold mouthed.”

In one of his writings, St. John Chrysostom wrote: “Prayer is the place of refuge for every worry, a foundation for cheerfulness, a source of constant happiness, a protection against sadness.”

So often in our lives, we look for fulfillment, we look for happiness, we look for peace, we look for rest, we look for joy in so many different things that will never fulfill us, that will never satisfy us. The way to fight against that is prayer; the only solution is for us having a deep, personal, intimate relationship with God the Father, with Jesus, with the Holy Spirit. We must go deeper into our faith, to go deeper into our relationship with the Lord – that’s what it’s all about.

John Chrysostom also wrote this: “God has given Himself entirely to you and without reserve; if He has give you all, and nothing more remains for Him to give you, as indeed He has done in His Passion and in the Holy Eucharist, reason requires that you also should give yourself without reserve to Him.”

That is what the Lord wants. He wants every aspect of our hearts, He wants every aspect of us. He doesn’t want us to hold back anything. Will we seek to give Him all, without reserve, today?

Image Source: Portrait of Saint John Chrysostom of Antioch. An early Byzantine mosaic from the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (Istanbul). Used under Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons. Accessed September 13, 2024.