04/02/2015

Good morning. Going through some old papers recently, I discovered a number of letters I’d written. There were some angry letters: the ones I’d written when things had gone wrong in my job and I’d decided to resign. A friend said to me, “Yes, write the letter and leave it until the morning.” I never sent them.

St Theophilus the Penitent had the same experience only he got angry and didn’t wait until the morning. It’s his feast day today. He was an administrator in the 6th century. He wasn’t so much a pen pusher - administrator as an official church role. They wanted him to become a bishop. He humbly refused.

But when the person they did make bishop sacked him from his job, he got so angry, the story goes he made a pact with the devil. They say this became the foundation for the Faust legend which has appealed to playwrights, poets and composers ever since.

At the end of Marlowe’s play Dr Faustus the drama builds an unbearable tension as the moment comes nearer and nearer for the devil to arrive and claim his soul. I remember the first time I saw the play. I knew how the story ended, but I was willing that Faust would only say yes and accept God’s gracious forgiveness even at the last moment.

The tale of St Theophilus ends differently, he does realise his mistake, makes a public confession and the pact with the devil is burned by the bishop in front of everyone.
As it’s now the morning after the night before, maybe now’s the opportunity to do as St Theophilus did:

Lord, for thy tender mercies’ sake, lay not our sins to our charge, but forgive that is past and give us grace and time to amend our lives. Amen