Angels

Each one of us carries a burden of sins, errors, sorrows, misfortunes; and yet, we should not be subjected to all of this, since each of us has his own guardian angel. Why, then, does such a situation exist? The angels, of course, would never allow it, were it not our own fault. And if they allow it, it is either because we make ourselves inaccessible to angelic guidance, or because by our contrariness we destroy and repel all the angels’ efforts to assist us in doing good.

First of all, we must always remember that we have a guardian angel, and we should turn to him with our mind and heart —both in the normal course of our life, and especially when our life is troubled by something. If we do not turn to him, the angel has no way of helping us. When someone walks with stopped up ears and closed eyes towards a bog or an abyss —what can you do for such a person, and how can you help him? You could shout— but his ears are stopped up; you could make a sign to warn him of impending danger —but his eyes are closed. You might say: let the angel take him by the hand and stop him, or lead him out onto the right path. Well, he is quite ready to do just that, and he looks for your hand, in order to take it and lead you out —but do you have such a hand? He will not be taking you by your physical hand —although that, too, can happen in special cases, — but by your spiritual hand, because he himself is a spirit. The spiritual hand is an active force, directed toward salvation and zealously attending to it. When you have such zeal in your soul, then the Lord’s angel will certainly take you by this hand and lead you; otherwise, what is there for him to hold onto?

And again you may say: let him arouse within me the desire for salvation himself. But you see, those who have such a desire —he will encourage and fortify; those who do not —he tries to encourage in all possible ways, but for the most part does so unsuccessfully, due to the great confusion prevailing in an indolent soul. Within such a soul everything is in disarray; thoughts, feelings, intentions; there is disorderly noise as though in a marketplace. To the same extent that we are subject to this lack of peace and self-discipline, it impedes the angel’s influence upon us. How can the angel urge us towards good, when he does not have our attention? How can the soul hear such and urging, when it is full of noise and confusion? It is for this reason that our guardian angel’s efforts remain fruitless.

Thus, if you wish to make use of angelic guidance and assistance, —tame your internal disorder, gather your attention within yourself, and stand at the gates of your heart. The Lord’s angel will notice it immediately, will come to you and will begin to instill thoughts of and a desire for salvation within you. Accede to this urging, and embark upon spiritual labors and then not only will the guardian angel take you by the hand, but he will take you up into his arms, and not only will he lead you, but he will carry you along the path to salvation. At the same time, you must respond by keeping your mind and heart inclined toward him, by retaining your zeal and remaining attentive. The angel will teach you everything; what to do, when and how, and what not to do; and whatever necessary, he will even provide external signs for your guidance.

-St. Theophan the Recluse Synaxis of the Archangel Michael and the Other Bodiless Powers, November 8from Word from the Desert

Lord Jesus Christ – Son of God, have mercy on me – a sinner.

Why We Can’t Just All Get Along??

-apologies to Rodney King 

“We are all obnoxious to error and mistakes, and it is but natural that we should make due allowance for human weakness and ignorance. If God had left us in our higher concerns to our devices, we should be still groping in the dark like the heathen of old, whom God left to themselves, in order to show how utterly unable the natural man is to find and grasp the supernatural truth. God mercifully revealed to us His truth, and expects us to thankfully accept it, neither doubting nor denying it. Therefore, what in human concerns might be called a liberal concession to our opponents, would in religion be a foul treachery, opposite God’s truth entrusted to His Church. It is not liberal, but indifferent, to regard all sorts of religion as equivalent; not to care to what religion one belongs, just as if one was as good or as bad as the other; or, to put it more forcibly, that the claim of one church to teach Christ’s truths purely and completely, to the exclusion of all other churches, is not true, and is simply humbug. This is the principle of all worldly people, and it is a fashion to consider a conscientious religious church-life a downright nuisance, though one is still afraid to call it so. The crowd call it liberal not to make any distinction between the teaching of the different churches, just as if truth and untruth could exist one at the side of the other without any disrespect to God, the Author of truth. It is want of faith and conviction, or rather want of taking an interest in religion, that produces this baleful indifference. Indifferentism has no place in the serious life of one who seeks to be right-minded.”

by Archimandrite Sebastian Dabovic (1863-1940)

h/t to Western American Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church

Lord, I believe, help Thou my unbelief…

Keeping it simple…

“Pray simply. Do not expect to find in your heart any remarkable gift of prayer. Consider yourself unworthy of it. Then you will find peace. Use the empty cold dryness of your prayer as food for your humility.”    – St. Macarius of Optina

Lord Jesus Christ Son of God, have mercy on me – a sinner.

Walking Softly…

A Christian must not be fanatic; he must have love for all people.

Those who inconsiderately toss comments, even if they are true, can cause harm. I met an author who was extremely pious, but was in the habit of speaking to the (secular) people around him in a blunt manner, which however penetrated so deep that it shook them very severely. He told me at one time: “During a gathering, I said such and such a thing to a lady.” But the way that he said it, crushed her. “Look”, I said to him, “you may be tossing golden crowns studded with diamonds to other people, but the way that you throw them can smash heads – not only the sensitive ones, but the sound ones also.”

Let’s not stone our fellow-man in a…. Christian manner. The person who – in the presence of others – checks someone for having sinned, or speaks in an impassioned manner about a certain person, is not moved by the Spirit of God: he is moved by another spirit. The way of the Church is LOVE; it differs from the way of the legalists.

The Church sees everything with tolerance and seeks to help each person, whatever he may have done, however sinful he may be. I have observed a peculiar kind of logic in certain pious people. Their piety is a good thing, and their predisposition for good is also a good thing; however, a certain spiritual discernment and amplitude is required so that their piety is not accompanied by narrow-mindedness or strong-headedness (strong, as in “unturning”). The whole basis is for someone to be in a spiritual state, so that he may have that spiritual discernment, because otherwise he will forever remain attached to the “letter of the Law”, and the letter of the Law can be “deadly”.

The one who possesses humility will never act like a teacher; he will listen, and whenever his opinion is requested, he will respond humbly. In other words, he will reply like a student. Whoever believes that he is capable of correcting others is filled with egotism.

~Elder Paisios of Mt. Athos

from Christ is in our midst

Progress…………

We mustn’t despair when we struggle and continuously see nothing but the slightest progress. We all do nearly nothing, some a little more, some a little less. When Christ sees our little effort He gives us an analogous token, and so our nearly nothing becomes valuable and we can see a little progress. For this reason we mustn’t despair, but hope in God.

-Elder Paisios the Athonite

from Word from the Desert

Lord Jesus Christ Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

“In any case, I have found that a man, while struggling, continues to make the same mistakes and does not change, the reason is usually egoism, self-love and self-interest. Humility and love are missing, thus blocking divine intervention. The person himself does not allow God to help him. If, for example, God helps him overcome a particular passion, such a person will selfishly take credit for it, and assume that it was his own achievement — without any help from God.” Blessed Elder Paisios of Mt. Athos +1994

Thanks to  Morning Offering

Lord, I have faith, help Thou my unbelief…..and have mercy on me a sinner.

Pray for my family and for me, a sinner this upcoming week…

Toward Humility…

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”  Matthew 5:5

The light of dawn comes before the sun, and meekness is the precursor of all humility. So let us listen to the order in which Christ, our Light, places these virtues. He says: “Learn from Me, because I am meek and humble of heart.” Therefore before gazing at the sun of humility, we must let the light of meekness flow over us. If we do, we will then be able to look steadily at the sun. The true order of these virtues teaches us that we are totally unable to turn our eyes to the sun before we have first become accustomed to the light.Meekness is an unchangeable state of mind, which remains the same in honor and dishonor.

Meekness is a rock overlooking the sea of anger, which breaks all the waves that dash against it, yet remains completely unmoved.Meekness is the fellow-worker with obedience, the guide of the brotherhood, a bridle for the enraged, a check for the irritable, a minister of joy, the imitation of Christ, something proper to angels, shackles for demons, a shield against bitterness.

St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent 24.1-6

-from Word from the Desert