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| CARVIEW |
By: Protopriest Sergei Chetverikov
If you are vigilant and honest with yourself, you would see that your life is a web, a huge network of such small but significant wicked moments, which comprise a significant part of your existence. If we ignore this, thinking that this is all normal, this means that you have not yet begun to live the Christian life.
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St. Gregory of Sinai
By: St. Gregory of Sinai
The true beginning of prayer is warmth of the heart, which scorches the passions and fills the soul with joy and gladness, strengthening the heart with an unshakable love and a firm assurance that leaves no room for doubt.
The Fathers say that whatever enters the soul, whether visible or invisible, is not from God so long as the heart is in doubt about it and so does not accept it: in such cases, it is something that comes from the enemy.
In the same way if you see your mind attracted by some invisible force to wander outside or soar high do not trust it and do not allow the mind to be enticed by it; but immediately force you mind to continue with its proper work. Whatever is of God comes by itself, says St. Isaac, whilst you are ignorant even of the time of its coming.
Thus the enemy tries to produce an illusion of some spiritual experience within us, offering us a mirage instead of the real thing-unruely burning instead of true spiritual warmth, and instead of joy, irrational excitement and physical pleasure which in turn gives rise to pride and conceit and he even succeeds in concealing himself from the inexperienced behind such seducements, so they think his diabolic illusion is really the working of grace.
Yet time, experience, and feeling will reveal him to those who are not altogether ignorant of his evil wiles. ‘The palate discriminates between different foods,’ says the Scriptures. In the same way spiritual taste shows all things as they are, without any illusion.
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Christ among the lepers
There’s always one in every crowd – a show off. This is someone who always has the best of everything. If you have something, he has one better. He is stronger, faster, smarter, more talented, and better looking than you. I’ve even had the experience (in my pagan days) of being around someone who, no matter what you said about the bad things you had done, had done even worse. I always thought that was a rather odd and inverted kind of pride. If I had drank one drink, he drank five drinks. If I smoke marijuana, he had used cocaine. Well, you get the picture. Once I even boasted about something that I hadn’t really done, and sure enough, he had done even worse.
Jesus told the lepers to go and show themselves to the priest. This command was according to the Jewish law of that time, yet it was radical for Jesus to even acknowledge them. There was no disease more feared than leprosy. Not only did you suffer from disfigurement, you were completely cast out of society. No one ever acknowledged you or greeted you. We see this reality when it says in the story that the lepers stood “afar off.”
Only one came back to Jesus, and he was a hated Samaritan. The Fathers say that this shows how the Jews rejected Jesus, but He would be received by the Gentiles. This is historically true and important for we Gentiles, yet what always puzzled me was why only one returned to thank Jesus. To be healed of such a thing would, I imagine, raise incredible feelings of relief and gratitude. Today, it would be like suffering from AIDS and then finding yourself healed in one day. Gratitude would hardly express what you would feel.
Certainly, when we speak from a personal perspective, all of us are lepers. All of us have this disease that disfigures our hearts and minds to the point that we too are often unfit to keep company with anyone. Those of us who have come to Jesus have found healing and restoration, some more than others. Since we experienced that healing, have we just gone on with life, thankful for whatever blessing we have received, or have we returned to express our gratitude to him?
Though Jesus always appreciates the gratitude that we feel towards him, gratitude is more than an attitude. A life of gratitude is a constant effort to show our appreciation by what we do and say. Often, when Jesus healed someone, he would say “Go and sin no more lest a worse thing happen to you.” I don’t know what happened to the nine lepers. I hope they lived a good and happy life but I am sure that they found that there were many other things in life that still needed to be healed.
Despite all the arguments between denominations about what is necessary for salvation, Jesus said, “He who loves me keeps my commandments.” It would take a long time to discuss the commandments of Christ and how we live them, but the point is that gratitude is fundamentally an aspect of love. When we live in such a way that we are outside of his commandments we show our ingratitude for all that he has done for us. This is why we find the word “ingratitude” on the list of sins to be confessed. Ingratitude is not so much a feeling as a way of living. Forgive me for saying this but given the material, financial and social blessings that we Americans have received, we must be the most ungrateful people who ever lived.
So, healed lepers we may be, but will we return to Jesus to express our gratitude? Will that gratitude be shown by the quality of our discipleship: or, having been healed of our disease, do we leave to go live life in way that seems right to us, without much thought for the will of God? Someone once said, “Love God and do as you please.” At first this statement seems ludicrous. Yet, if we truly love God, what pleases the heart is to do the will of God.
Well, like all things, its up to us, but I invite you to be show-off. There is no greater witness than this: “once I was blind, but now I see.” Show the priest, show the family, and show everyone you meet, more by what you do than by what you say. You see all around us are lepers who long to be healed. The world has seen many who talked about their healing, but so very few who lived a life of gratitude. So, go on – show off!
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St. Gregory Palamas
By: St. Gregory Palamas
Sensual pleasure causes ungodliness as well as sin, but fasting and self-control result in the fear of God as well as virtue. Fasting must be accompanied by self-control. Why? Because eating our fill, even of humble foods, is a hindrance to the purifying mourning, godly sorrow and contrition in our souls, which bring about unswerving repentance leading to salvation. For without a contrite heart we cannot really lay hold of repentance. It is the restriction of self-indulgence, sleep and the senses according to God’s will that crushes our hearts and makes us mourn for our sins.
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St. John Chrysostom
By: St. John Chrysostom
Every virtue is a good thing, but most of all gentleness and meekness. This showeth us men; this maketh us to differ from wild beasts; this fitteth us to vie with Angels. Wherefore Christ continually expendeth many words about this virtue, bidding us be meek and gentle. Nor doth He merely expend words about it, but also teacheth it by His actions; at one time buffeted and bearing it, at another reproached and plotted against; yet again coming to those who plotted against Him. For those men who had called Him a demoniac, and a Samaritan and who had often desired to kill Him, and had cast stones at Him, the same surrounded and asked Him, “Art thou the Christ?” Yet not even in this case did He reject them after so many and so great plots against Him, but answered them with great gentleness.
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St. Isaac the Syrian
By: St. Isaac the Syrian
Whoever hates his sins will stop sinning; and whoever confesses them will receive remission. A man can not abandon the habit of sin if he does not first gain enmity toward sin, nor can he receive remission of sin without confession of sin. For the confession of sin is the cause of true humility.
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St. Therese of Lisieux
