It is only when we let go of our own thoughts, ideas, will, that we can live, in all purity, in the ‘atmosphere’ of God. For man, the greatest punishment is when God abandons him to his own will. In our epoch, which has rejected Christ, no one understands such an apparently servile attitude. Pure prayer presupposes the absence of cares. We attain pure prayer when, during whatever work, our mind remains free from thinking
By Father Leonidas Contos, New York, December 8, 1965 As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. Psalm 103:15-16 If we were to take this single verse from the familiar Psalm, and consider it in isolation from the rest of what is a glorious hymn of praise, no doubt it
Whoever you are, whatever you may be, says the Lord of Love, my hand is resting upon you at this very moment. By this gesture, I am letting you know that I love you and that I call you for my own. I have never ceased loving you, speaking to you, or calling you. Sometimes it was in silence and solitude. Sometimes it was there, where others were gathered in my name. Often you did
God’s enduring presence places the false self in a blessed insecurity. The false self is like a drop of stagnant water thrown into the raging furnace of the love of God. Even in our sins, in God’s eyes we remain the great pearl for which he has lost all upon the cross in order to possess us as his own. Even in the midst of revolt, we remain his one lost sheep for which he
In our civilization, so rich in knowledge and in power, we can no longer offer any reply to the enigma of death. We want only to forget death. Yet it meets us again and again in the form of hatred, oppression, separation, illness, and the disappearance of persons we love. This is why the message of Easter, of Holy Pascha, resounds today with such renewed strength. God takes on human flesh, suffers, dies, and descends
The Ruler’s Responsibility The Superior who has the task of looking after everyone must act as if he had to give an account of each individual. He must realize that he will answer personally for a brother who has fallen into sin, because he has not shown him the Law of God. He will also have to answer for the brother who remains still in his sin, because he has not pointed out to him
Open the Route to God for your Opponents Don’t ever hurt one of your neighbours by using words in two senses. He could reply in the same way and you would both be wandering off the path of love. Go to him and warn him with affectionate sincerity. When you have between you removed the cause of your unhappiness, you will both of you be free from anxiety and bitterness. Don’t recall to your memory
How to Love a Friend … and Persecute an Enemy Augustine said: ‘The evil-doer is sad when he sees that his enemy has taken a warning and avoided punishment.’ Gregory said: ‘We are only faithful to our friends when our actions match our promises. ‘People have no right to persecute their enemies with the sword, but they should persecute them with prayer.’ Jerome said: ‘Often our friends are only so-called friends: not being able to
How to Eradicate Ill-Feeling Do you maintain that you are keeping the commandment of love towards your neighbour? If so, why is there so much bitter ill-feeling in you against this or that person? Is that not perhaps a sign that you are preferring transient goods to loving, and that just to possess them you are struggling even to the point of hostility to your brothers and sisters? Sadness and ill-feeling go hand in hand.
Shut No One out from Your Love Do all you can to love everyone. If you are not yet able to, at the very least don’t hate anyone. Yet you won’t even manage this if you have not reached detachment from the things of this world. You must love everyone with all your soul, hoping, however, only in God and honouring him with all your heart. Christ’s friends are not loved by all, but they
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