But life can teach us that although the events of the day are out of our hands, they should never be out of our hearts, that instead of becoming bitter our lives can yield to the wisdom that only from the heart a creative response can come forth. When the answer to our world remains hanging between our minds and our hands, it remains weak and superficial. When our protests against war, segregation and social
When we look within, the “I” that looks is saturated by this Vastness; when we look without, this “I” is liberated of itself by its immersion in the very Vastness that indwells it (Jn 14:10; 17:22-23), much like the sponge that is immersed in the ocean depth that fills its every membrane. When the sponge looks out, it sees only ocean; when it looks within, it sees only ocean. We are graciously immersed in Jesus’
It is tragic to see how the religious sentiment of the West has become so individualized that concepts such as “a contrite heart,” have come to refer only to personal experiences of guilt and the willingness to do penance for it. The awareness of our impurity in thoughts, words and deeds can indeed put us in a remorseful mood and create in us the hope for a forgiving gesture. But if the catastrophical events of
Saint Teresa of Avila goes to great lengths to remind us that there is such a thing as inner light, “We are conditioned,” she says, “to perceive only external light. We forget that there is such a thing as inner light, illuminating our soul, and we mistake that radiance for darkness.” Saint Hesychios says our practice will dawn with yet a new brilliance, a “continuous seeing into the heart’s depths, stillness of mind unbroken even
“A donkey going round and round in a mill cannot step out of the circle to which it is tethered.” This is how St. Hesychios describes the state of awareness that is held prisoner to inner chatter. Although we may feel perfectly at home with going around and around and around in circles of inner chatter, he says that this actually blinds us to something deeper: “with our inner eye blinded, we cannot perceive holiness
Who is Unaware of the Stream? You would be a blasphemer if you were to say that every believer receives and possesses the Spirit without knowing or recognizing the fact. Yes, you would! You would be accusing Christ of lying when he said: ‘The water that I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’ and again: ‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ [John
The great penitential Canon of St. Andrew of Crete conceals within it great neptic wealth. Let’s bring to mind some of its precious gems: Instead of the visible Eve, I have the Eve of the mind: the passionate thought in my flesh, showing me what seems sweet; yet whenever I taste from it, I find it bitter (34). Thou hast heard O – my soul, be watchful! – how Ishmael was driven out as the
Give Yourself to Christ I was worried and he counseled me. “Didn’t I tell you on another occasion that when you completely open your heart to the Lord, without reservations, the Lord will enter it and make it incapable of sinning? Did you understand? You become incapable of evil. When the Lord loves us in the depths of our heart He brings meekness and kindness. Even if we wish to get angry, to do harm
The word solitude can be misleading. It suggests being alone by yourself in an isolated place. When we think about solitaries, our mind easily evokes images of monks or hermits who live in remote places secluded from the noise of the busy world. In fact, the words solitude and solitary are derived from the Latin word solus, which means alone, and during the ages many men and women who wanted to live a spiritual life
IT follows from this that prayer is your first and incomparably most important means of fighting. Learn to pray, and you vanquish all the evil powers that could imaginably assail you. Prayer is one wing, faith the other, that lifts us heavenward. With only one wing no one can fly: prayer without faith as meaningless as faith without prayer. But if your faith is very weak, you can profitably cry: Lord, give me faith! Such
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