Tuesday, December 31, 2024

The Breaking In Of The Future Age

"He who is wise and, therefore, walks carefully, redeems the time. But he redeems the time because 'the days are evil' [Ephesians 5:16]. Whenever we consume time in a good work we buy it and make our own what has been sold by the malice of humanity. But no one seeking the necessary things of this life and thinking about riches and cares, which the Gospel calls thorns (Matt. 13:22), can redeem the time for himself. Moreover, when we 'redeem the time' which is in evil days, we change it, to a certain degree, and turn the evil days into good and make them days not of the present age but of the future." (Origen and Jerome, in Ronald Heine, trans. and ed., The Commentaries Of Origen And Jerome On St. Paul's Epistle To The Ephesians [New York: Oxford University Press, 2002], 225)