Earthly existence is for man an endless suffering. Why do we bear all this? Because the Creator has come and has dwelt among us. And we now know Him personally.
We are created ‘in the image and likeness of God’. When we measure the reality of our everyday life against this divine revelation, we fall into despair. Why is it so difficult to act as a Christian in the here and now? Because it is a matter of eternal life. For us who are created from nothing, what relation is there between our pettiness, our poverty, and this so high, infinite, goal?
The struggle for salvation can at times be very simple and ‘primitive’, and at times very complicated, beyond all human strength.
Of course, it is better not to sin. But repentance, if it is like a flame, can restore every loss.
We must preserve the spirit of repentance all our life, right to the end. Repentance is the basis of all ascetic and spiritual life. The feeling, or intuition, of sin can become so acute in us that it really engenders a repentance from the depths of our being.
We may weep for hours, for weeks, for years, until our being is completely regenerated by the word of Christ, by His commandments, and above all, by the grace of the Holy Spirit. This transformation of our being, after the Fall of Adam, requires great efforts. And a long time.
Repentance has no end on earth, because the end of repentance would mean that we had become like Christ in everything. The least difference between Christ and ourselves requires of us deep repentance: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon us’. This word expresses the difference that we feel between Him, the absolute and eternal Being, and ourselves. ‘If we are not really like the Lord in all things, how can we dwell eternally with Him?’ wonders Saint Symeon the New Theologian. For Him, as for us, it is impossible. The only thing that remains for us is to have patience.
Men, of themselves, cannot understand when they are sinning or not sinning. Only the Lord and the Holy Spirit reveal this to us. In Paradise, when Jesus Christ spoke with Adam, Adam refused to be accused: ‘It is Thou who gavest me this woman; it is she who gave me to eat of this fruit’. Let us make every effort not to accuse God.
In small things, in simple acts, let us try to have the following inner attitude: To refuse the will of my “fallen” blood; I desire that in my veins will flow the blood of God Himself.
If God is, then I recognize that every fault comes from me and not from Him. If I keep such an attitude, God will give me the spirit of repentance.
When we see Christ as He is, we begin to see ourselves, to realize what great and miserable sinners we are, to lament over ourselves. Love for the whole world is born to the degree that our lamentation grows. Divisions cease. We are all one in Christ.
~Adapted from Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov), Words of Life, translated from the French by Sister Magdalen (Stavropegic Monastery of Saint John the Baptist, Essex)
