Gerontissa Gavrilia:
Indeed, you are. For Christ said,
“My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth,” And again, “that My joy
might remain in you,” This joy is like
the grace of God. It dwells in us. We do not wait for the other one to give us
joy, since Christ gives it first.
Interviewer: This is what
I have noticed. Though you see every day
people who are sick, poor, helpless…you are joyful.
Gerontissa Gavrilia:
Yes. Because I love with all my
heart those whom I see. I link their
life with my own and, at the same time, I think: If I, a
mortal and sinful person, can love them so much, how much more must God love
them—God Who created them and Whose children they are. In other words, He
is the first to care for them. He knows
why they are sick. He knows what effect their sickness will have on their
soul. He knows the reason of all
things. I can neither judge nor fathom
any further. So, this is what I do. I take this sick person in my heart. I make a fervent prayer, with all my love,
and I place him at the Feet of Christ.
That is, I say, “My Lord, give him Your pardon, give him You mercy, give
him light, give him health of body and soul.
Make Your will manifest itself in his life.” Because sometimes, if God’s will is not
revealed in a person’s life, he may suffer from illness for a long time, so
that he may learn his lesson through experience.
When you are confined to bed, you can be alone, you can think,
and you may find the answers to a lot of questions. Those who had to spend long days in bed—as I
had in my young age—know what a gift this is to the sinful side of
ourselves. For sin must be
cleansed. Sitting up in bed, we can stay
all alone: no social activities, no
images from the outside world, nothing…this helps…So I say this prayer and
leave the ailing person in the Hands of God.
Can I do anything more? No! After I have done that, the joy of God
remains unaltered in my heart. I cannot
weep over this person’s condition. I can
weep over my own sins and beg to be forgiven.
This is something different. But,
cry for another child of God…no. My
heart will be filled with compassion—that, yes.
This compassion will lead me to prayer!
Prayer will be as a union with God…To work His miracles, God
wants us to have love in this world—truly, He wants a human soul to love in
unison with Him. I have noticed
that. This is why priests and God-loving
people who make a paraklesis (supplication prayer) notice an immediate change
in the condition of the person for whom the paraklesis is made, even if he is
miles away. For he tells them, “Do you
know how I felt? From that moment on I
felt stronger, etc.” Obviously so. Because there is no greater energy than that
of prayer. Prayer is God’s energy—that’s
what it is. Above all, however, we need
something else: We need to listen to the
voice of God—in silence.
Interviewer: Do you mean,
Gerontissa, that joy can become permanent?
Gerontissa Gavrilia:
Yes…even if we are doing something very important, such as praying, we
should open our door when someone knocks.
As the Saint says, pretend that you were not at prayer and do not send
him away. Open your door and tell him, Come in brother. When we have reached the point of thinking
like that, of thinking only of our brother and not of our own self, our joy
becomes permanent. And as we have become
the mirror in which the other sees his own reflection, if this mirror is filled
with joy, he will surely see that too…This is most essential. You see, I lived many years in India—a very
poor country, oppressed, suffering, ignorant of Christ. Well, let us take now a country where Christ
is known, such as Switzerland or France.
As soon as you alight from the train, you see nothing but sullen,
worried faces. They all look
anxious! What has happened here? The sense of joy has been lost. This is very serious indeed! In India, they are awaiting Christ and this
waiting is joyful. We “have” Him, but do
not reflect Him. We are guilty for
this. Terribly guilty…still you should
know, and I will say it once again, that when you submit yourselves entirely to
the power and love of God, you will comprehend that everything—listen well, EVERYTHING, in capital letters—is done
either because God wills it or because God permits it. There is no third version! Therefore, since God wills it, I accept it
with all my heart; since God permits it, again I accept it with the same
joy. For He has His reasons, it is a
training. Never dare ask “why.” NEVER!
Because he who asks “why” writes “I.”
And where there is an “I,” there can be neither progress nor hope.
Interviewer: Gerontissa,
you have spoken of joy. Yet the Fathers
tell us to have sorrow and tears for our sins.
How can these be combined?
Gerontissa Gavrilia: I
will tell you. The moment we become
aware that we did something wrong, we shall shed tears, we shall feel
contrition, we shall repent. Then, the
joy of pardon should follow, because we know that God is compassionate and all
merciful.
No comments:
Post a Comment