Festival of St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr
Posted on October 17, 2022 by under
Scripture: St. John 15:1-17 (NKJV)
15:1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.
12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. 17 These things I command you, that you love one another.”
Devotion
We abide in Jesus’ love–who abides in the Father’s love–as we do what He commanded His Church. This is by virtue of our connection with Him as branches to a vine. Branches not bearing fruit are worthless and thrown into the fire, but He who is alive and gives life chooses to lay down His life for us, to make us more than servants. Friends are those who have been chosen to receive everything that the Father has revealed in Christ; having that revelation as our life, bearing fruit is simply a given.
We celebrate St. Ignatius’s confessing the Holy Supper of the Word Made Flesh as the “medicine of immortality”:
Who abides in Christ, the Savior
Shall abundant fruit bring forth
All in thanks for God’s great favor
That grants sinners a new birth.
Gracious Jesus, grant that ever
We with heart and life declare
How Your death has brought God’s mercy
And forgiveness everywhere.
Jesus, Lord, enthroned in glory,
On Whom once our sins were laid,
On the cross our judgment bearing.
You have full atonement made.
Here, Your blood and body give us
That Your branches may confess
To all men, both great and lowly,
You, alone, our Righteousness.
For, O Savior, we’re but branches
You the ever-living Vine
Who with love and mercy feeds us
Through the Word-blessed bread and wine;
May Your Spirit dwell within us
That we love You, Word Divine,
And so nourished and so fruitful
Gladly leave this world behind.
Prayer: O God, forasmuch as without Thee we are not able to please Thee: Mercifully grant, that Thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for the Festival of St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr
Almighty God, behold our weakness and the sorrows of Thy people, and as Thou didst grant consolation of Thy Holy Spirit to St. Ignatius in his time of affliction for Thy Name’s sake, so uphold us in our generation, through our Lord, Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
