God’s Word is an inexhaustible spring
From a sermon by Saint Ephrem, deacon (306-373)
God’s word is an inexhaustible spring of life
Lord, who can comprehend even one of your words. We loose more of it than we grasp, like those who drink from a living spring. For God’s work offers different facets according to the capacity of the listener, and the Lord has portrayed his message in many colors, so that whoever gazes upon it can see in it what suits him. Within it he has buried manifold treasures, so that each of us might grow rich in seeking them out.
The word of God is a tree of life that offers us blessed fruit from each of its branches. It is like that rock which was struck open in the wilderness, from which all were offered spiritual drink. As the Apostle says: They ate spiritual food and they drank spiritual drink.
And so whenever anyone discovers some part of the treasure, he should not think that he has exhausted God’s word. Instead he should feel that this is all that he was able to find of the wealth contained in it. Nor should he say that the word is weak and sterile or look down on it simply because this portion was all that he happened to find. But precisely because he could not capture it all he should give thanks for its riches.
Be glad then that you are overwhelmed, and do not be saddened because he has overcome you. A thirsty man is happy when he is drinking, and he is not depressed because he cannot exhaust the spring. So let this spring quench your thirst, and not you thirst the spring. For from it you can satisfy your thirst without exhausting the spring, then when you thirst again you can drink from it once more; but if when your thirst is sated the spring is also dried up, then your victory would turn to your own harm.
Be thankful then for what you have received, and do not be saddened at all that such an abundance still remains. What you have received and attained is your present share, while what is left will be your heritage. For what you could not take at one time because of your weakness, you will be able to grasp at another if you only persevere. So do not foolishly try to drain in one draught what cannot be consumed all at once, and do not cease out of faintheartedness from what you will be able to absorb as time goes on.
Source: The Liturgy of the Hours – Office of Readings
Saint Ephrem was born at Nisibis, Mesopotamia of Christian parents. He served under St. James of Nisibis and became head of his school. He probably attended the Council of Nicaea in 325. Syrian sources attribute the deliverance of Nisibis from the Persians in 350 to his prayers. Thirteen years later when the city was ceded to the Persians by Emperor Jovian, he took residence in a cave near Edessa in Roman territory and preached to the Christians. It was here that he did most of his writing. He visited St. Basil at Caesarea in 370 and on his return helped victims of the famine in 372-73 by distributing food and money to the stricken and helping the poor.
Ephrem wrote volumes in Syriac on dogmatic and ascetical themes using scriptural sources. He also wrote against the heresies of the Arians and the Gnostics and on the Last Judgment. He was especially devoted to the Blessed Virgin and was absolutely certain of her sinlessness. He introduced hymns in public worship. Particularly outstanding are his Nisibeian hymns and the canticles for the seasons giving him the surname “the Harp of the Holy Spirit.” He died at Edessa around 373 and was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XV in 1920. He was the only Syrian to be so honored.