The Journey towards Love

[TER]

Of course it is hard [to pray for others]… to pray for people is to shed blood. But we must pray none the less. Everything that grace has ever taught must be performed to the end of one’s life… The Lord at times forsakes the soul in order to prove her, that she may testify her understanding and free will; but if a man does not constrain himself to pray he will lose grace, whereas if he evinces good will, grace will love him and abandon him no more.

- St. Silouan the Athonite

 

[TER]

"In the spiritual world we see a practice contrary...to the normal order of things: there, those who are above wait upon those below, sacrificing themselves for their sakes, to bring them to the same degree of wealth, to the same fullness of which they themselves are possessed. The motive power is love, which cannot bear to see the loved one suffeirng privation. Thus the incontestable and eternal Master and Lord said that He 'came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many'. The accepted doctrine concerning angels is that they are a higher form of being than we are, yet St. Paul says they are 'ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation.' The Lord enjoins His disciples to do as He did when He washed their feet...."

- St. Silouan

 

[TER]

If you will pray for your enemies, peace will come to you; but when you can love your enemies - know that a great measure of the grace of God dwells in you, though I do not say perfect grace as yet, but sufficient for salvation. Whereas if you revile your enemies, it means there is an evil spirit living in you and bringing evil thoughts into your heart, for, in the words of the Lord, out of the heart proceed evil thoughts - or good thoughts.

- St. Silouan

 

[TER]

The good man thinks to himself in this wise: Every one who has strayed from the truth brings destruction on himself and is therefore to be pitied. But of course the man who has not learned the love of the Holy Spirit will not pray for his enemies. The man who has learned love from the Holy Spirit sorrows all his life over those who are not saved, and sheds abundant tears for the people, and the grace of God gives him strength to love his enemies.

- St. Silouan

 

[TER]

“Do not let pass any opportunity to pray for anyone, either at his request or at the request of his relatives, friends, of those who esteem him, or of his acquaintances.

The Lord looks favorably upon the prayer of our love, and upon our boldness before him. Besides this, prayer for others is very beneficial to the one himself who prays for others; it purifies the heart, strengthens faith and hope in God, and enkindles our love for God and our neighbor.

When praying, say thus: ‘Lord, it is possible for Thee to do this or that to this servant of Thine; do this for him, for Thy name is the Merciful Love of Men and the Almighty.’”

- St. John of Kronstadt

 

[TER]

 

[TER]

Understand the words of Holy Scripture by putting them into practice, and do not fill yourself with conceit by expiating on theoretical ideas.

- Saint Mark the Ascetic

 

[TER]

 

[TER]

 

[TER]

No matter how much the waves of temptation rise up against your soul, always hasten to Christ. The Saviour will always come to your aid and will calm the waves. Believe that the Lord has providentially arranged such experiences for your soul’s healing and do not reject them, seeking bodily peace and imaginary tranquility, for it is better to be shaken and yet to endure. If you will gain an insight from this, it will greatly lighten your struggle and you will gain more peace than if you do not.

- St. Leo of Optina

 

[Sola_Fide]

No matter how much the waves of temptation rise up against your soul, always hasten to Christ. The Saviour will always come to your aid and will calm the waves. Believe that the Lord has providentially arranged such experiences for your soul’s healing and do not reject them, seeking bodily peace and imaginary tranquility, for it is better to be shaken and yet to endure. If you will gain an insight from this, it will greatly lighten your struggle and you will gain more peace than if you do not.

- St. Leo of Optina

TER, do you believe that God providentially arranges everything, including the bad experiences? Does this mean God's providence chooses the sin that leads up to bad experiences?

 

[TER]

We see the water of a river flowing uninterruptedly and passing away, and all that floats on its surface, rubbish or beams of trees, all pass by. Christian! So does our life. . .I was an infant, and that time has gone. I was an adolescent, and that too has passed. I was a young man, and that too is far behind me. The strong and mature man that I was is no more. My hair turns white, I succumb to age, but that too passes; I approach the end and will go the way of all flesh. I was born in order to die. I die that I may live. Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom!

- St. Tikhon of Voronezh

 

[Sola_Fide]

We see the water of a river flowing uninterruptedly and passing away, and all that floats on its surface, rubbish or beams of trees, all pass by. Christian! So does our life. . .I was an infant, and that time has gone. I was an adolescent, and that too has passed. I was a young man, and that too is far behind me. The strong and mature man that I was is no more. My hair turns white, I succumb to age, but that too passes; I approach the end and will go the way of all flesh. I was born in order to die. I die that I may live. Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom!

- St. Tikhon of Voronezh

What is this man's hope? Is his hope in the perfect life of Christ on His behalf? Or is it in his own good works?

 

[TER]

Be persecuted, rather than be a persecutor.
Be crucified, rather than be a crucifier.
Be treated unjustly, rather than treat anyone unjustly.
Be oppressed, rather than be an oppressor.
Be gentle rather than zealous.
Lay hold of goodness, rather than justice.

- St. Isaac the Syrian

 

[TER]

More than all things love silence: it brings you a fruit that tongue cannot describe. In the beginning we have to force ourselves to be silent. But then there is born something that draws us to silence. May God give you an experience of this 'something' that is born of silence. If you only practice this, untold light will dawn on you in consequence...after a while a certain sweetness is born in the heart of this exercise and the body is drawn almost by force to remain in silence.

- St. Isaac of Syria

 

[TER]

As a grain of sand weighed against a large amount of gold, so, in God, is the demand for equitable justice weighed against his compassion. As a handful of sand in the boundless ocean, so are the sins of the flesh in comparison with God's providence and mercy. As a copious spring could not be stopped up with a handful of dust, so the Creator's compassion cannot be conquered by the wickedness of creatures.

- St. Isaac of Syria

 

[TER]

Do not say that God is just...David may call him just and fair, but God's own Son has revealed to us that he is before all things good and kind. He is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked (Luke 6.35). How can you call God just when you read the parable of the labourers in the vineyard and their wages? 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong...I choose to give to this last as I give to you...do you begrudge my generosity?' (Matthew 20.13)

Likewise how can you call God just when you read the parable of the prodigal son who squanders his father's wealth in riotous living, and the moment he displays some nostalgia his father runs to him, throws his arms round his neck and gives him complete power over all his riches? It is not someone else who has told this about God, so that we might have doubts. It is his own Son himself. He bore this witness to God. Where is God's justice? Here, in the fact that we were sinners and Christ died for us ...

O the wonder of the grace of our Creator! O the unfathomable goodness with which he has invested the existence of us sinners in order to create it afresh!...Anyone who has offended and blasphemed him he raises up again...Sin is to fail to understand the grace of the resurrection. Where is the hell that could afflict us? Where is the damnation that could make us afraid to the extent of overwhelming the joy of God's love? What is hell, face to face, with the grace of the resurrection when he will rescue us from damnation, enable this corruptible body to put on incorruption and raise up fallen humanity from hell to glory?...Who will appreciate the wonder of our Creator's grace as it deserves?...In place of what sinners justly deserve, he gives them resurrection. In place of the bodies that have profaned his law, he clothes them anew in glory...See, Lord, I can no longer keep silent before the ocean of thy grace. I no longer have any idea how to express the gratitude that I owe to thee...Glory be to thee in both the worlds that thou hast created for our growth and delight, guiding us by the path of they majestic works to the knowledge of they glory!

- St. Isaac of Syria

 

[RJB]

I need to remember this:

"Acquire a peaceful spirit, and around you thousands will be saved."
--St. Seraphim of Sarov

 

[Sola_Fide]

Be persecuted, rather than be a persecutor.
Be crucified, rather than be a crucifier.
Be treated unjustly, rather than treat anyone unjustly.
Be oppressed, rather than be an oppressor.
Be gentle rather than zealous.
Lay hold of goodness, rather than justice.

- St. Isaac the Syrian

WHY do these things?

Do you do them to GET saved?
Or do you do them because you ARE saved?

The answer to this question determines whether you are a Christian or not.

 

[TER]

Christians love one another.

They never fail to help widows; they save orphans from those who would hurt them. If a man has something, he gives freely to the man who has nothing. If they see a stranger, Christians take him home and are happy, as though he were a real brother.

They don't consider themselves brothers in the usual sense, but brothers instead through the Spirit of God. And if they hear that one of them is in jail, or persecuted for professing the name of their redeemer, they all give him what he needs. If it is possible, they bail him out. If one of them is poor and there isn't enough food to go around, they fast several days to give him the food he needs.

This is really a new kind of person.
There is something divine in them.


- From a report given by a pagan official,Aristides,
to the Emperor Hadrian (117-138 AD), who was seeking justification to outlaw Christianity.