Daily Devotional: December 20th

Daily Prayer XIII

Justice, noble virtue, thy scales held high,

In fairness' name, beneath the open sky.

With blindfold on, impartial and true,

Guiding the hand to what is just and due.

In the heart of the city or a quiet glade,

Thy presence lingers in the choices made.

Equity's guardian, in the court's embrace,

Upholding truth and granting every case.

Oh, Justice, cultivate thy virtuous seed,

In the fertile soil of every noble deed.

Let righteousness bloom in each mindful choice,

In the harmonious symphony of Justice' voice.

Daily Meditation

"Ah! You say: "All things are possible with God." But this is not true. Not all things are possible for him. [God] cannot make it happen that Homer should not have been a poet. God cannot bring it about that Troy should not fall. He cannot make 2 x 2 = 100 rather than 4, even though he should prefer it to be so. He cannot become evil, even if he wished to. Being good by nature, he cannot sin. And it is no weakness on his part that he is unable to do these things-to sin or to become evil.”

—Porphyry

Against the Christians, Apocrit. IV.24

When we say God is all-powerful or omnipotent, we are not saying that God can will anything into existence at any time. God is the cause of all things, but that does not mean he is the only cause of all things. He is the first cause and creator; however, other secondary causes continue to flesh out the cosmos. Thus, God sets all in motion and governs the universe with providence. As Porphyry says, this is no weakness of God but rather a consequence of his perfect goodness.

Monthly Ascesis: Repentance

"Repentance is the beginning of philosophy"

—Hierocles

“Repentance is often seen as a particularly Christian idea, but philosophers were quite fond of reminding people to repent. Pythagoras, in particular, suggests two ways that we can begin to repent and take a better inventory of who we are. The word ‘repent’ is related to the Latin word for regret. The idea is that we should look over our actions and judge them if they are unworthy. However, the Greek word for repentance is metanoia, which means the transformation of the mind. Platonic repentance is about creating an inner change that leads us back to a life of holiness in harmony with the divine.

Pythagoras says we should “do nothing shameful, neither in the presence of others nor privately; Thus, above all things, sit as a judge over [ourself].” This suggests we should watch our actions, and when we do something wrong or shameful, we should repent, that is, regret that action. If we never do this or shun it as a practice, we effectively say we have no reason to regret our actions. However, regretting an action is recognizing an area where we fell short of our ideals. If we never regret or repent, we make any spiritual or ethical growth impossible. This is why Hierocles, commenting on Pythagoras, says, “repentance is the beginning of philosophy.””

Excerpt from Ascesis: The Handbook of Platonic Practice

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