Not as common bread or as common drink do we receive these.....We have been taught that the food that has been Eucharistized by the word of prayer, that food which by assimilation nourishes our flesh and blood, is the flesh and blood of the incarnate Jesus.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the spiritual significance of the Eucharist, portraying it as more than just physical nourishment.
In this quote, Justin Martyr highlights the profound nature of the Eucharist, suggesting that it transcends ordinary food and drink by being a sacred representation of the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. He teaches that through the act of prayer and faith, believers receive spiritual nourishment that is vital for their souls, illustrating the deep connection between the divine and the faithful in the pursuit of spiritual sustenance.
In practice
In a sermon discussing the importance of faith, one might use this quote to illustrate the significance of spiritual food in the life of a believer.
We ourselves were well conversant with war, murder and everything evil, but all of us throughout the whole wide earth have traded in our weapons of war. We have exchanged our swords for plowshares, our spears for farm tools...now we cultivate the fear of God, justice, kindness, faith, and the expectation of the future given us through the Crucified One....The more we are persecuted and martyred, the more do others in ever increasing numbers become believers.
Sound doctrine does not enter into the hard and disobedient heart; but, as if beaten back, enters anew into itself.
Let it be understood that those who are not found living as He taught are not Christian- even though they profess with the lips the teaching of Christ.
Now bring what we have into common stock, and communicate to everyone in need; we who hated and destroyed one another, and on account of their different tribe, now since the coming of Christ, live familiarly with them, and pray for our enemies, and endeavor to persuade those who hate us unjustly, to the end that they may become partakers of the same joyful hope of a reward from God the ruler of all.
We expect to receive again our own bodies, though they be dead and cast into the earth, for we maintain that with God nothing is impossible.
I don't believe that if you do good, good things will happen. Everything is completely accidental and random. Sometimes bad things happen to very good people and sometimes good things happen to bad people. But at least if you try to do good things, then you're spending your time doing something worthwhile.
A man is never as big as when he is on his knees to help a child.
For forty years, I have devoted myself to the cause of the people's revolution with but one aim in view - the elevation of China to a position of freedom and equality among the nations.
Remember tonight... for it is the beginning of always.
This evolution towards a real responsibility for others is sometimes blocked by fear. It is easier to stay on the level of a pleasant way of life in which we keep our freedom and our distance. But that means that we stop growing and shut ourselves up in our own small concerns and pleasures.
The Scripture abounds in commands and cautions for our utmost diligence in our search and inquiry as to whether we are made partakers of Christ or not, or whether His Spirit dwells in us or not-which argue both the difficulty of attaining an assured confidence herein, as also the danger of our being mistaken, and yet the certainty of a good issue upon the diligent and regular use of means to that purpose.
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