Give thanks in everything

We must learn how to live a heavenly life.  And that is not easy, because up until now we have led a life of resistance and opposition.  Take, for example, a family man who has a home and a family and who knows how to do his job well but is doing this job against his will.  That is how inner resistance builds up.  If we do not learn to rid ourselves of this inner resistance, we will not be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven and dwell among the angels and the saints.  For we have acquired the habit of always opposing one thing or another, as there is always something that is against our will.  We have not learned to be obedient to the will of God, but always want our will to be done.  Well, in that case, there will be no place for us in heaven. 

Therefore, let us be thankful to God for everything.  He knows why He has put us in the position where we find ourselves, and we will get the most out of it when we learn to be humble. 

 

We should always remember that whatever task we perform here in this life is for Him.  He gives it to us; whether we are believers or not, whether we are pious or not, we must carry out God’s plan. 

On partaking of Holy Communion

…The Church also forbids Holy Communion to those who have not made peace with their friends and family, who harbor hatred for a neighbor and have not forgiven them.  The Lord forbids such people to approach the holy chalice because we are all the work of His hands; we all belong to Him.  If we want eternal life with Him, then we must forgive everyone from the heart.

 

And so, my dear ones, approach with a peaceful heart, pure feelings and a clear conscience in order to receive the most pure Body and Blood of our Lord.  You see how it was the will of the Lord for us to be like Him not only in spirit, but in the flesh as well.  We are His kin in the flesh, in the spirit and in the soul.  He gives all of Himself to us.  Do you see how He gives Himself to us without reservation?  He gives us His most pure Body and His most precious Blood in order that we might have eternal life and be in communion with Him.  For this He wants us to have a pure heart and to be like the angels and saints.  Therefore, we must forgive everyone from the heart, for everything belongs to God.  We must not have a single negative thought when we receive the Lord.  If we receive the Lord while at the same time breeding hateful thoughts toward a neighbor, we are receiving Him not unto our salvation but unto judgment.  And so, my children, let every one of you examine your soul and approach the holy chalice. 

On the Fall and the tyranny of thoughts

The Holy Fathers say that the Lord has permitted mankind to be born of woman and to multiply on the earth in this manner because of the Fall of our forebears.  God had ordered everything perfectly, and He is the Father of all.  However, after the Fall this harmony was disturbed.  Our very nature became corrupt, for our forebears were created immortal.  When man fell, death came and the order of the universe was disturbed, for Adam had been created as the crown of the universe and the master of all created things.  In every man can be found the entire material world of the universe and all the noetic powers.  This is why it has been said that man is a microcosm.  We must return to the bosom of our Heavenly Father and our faith must grow stronger in order that we might get strength from Him, and we shall see His Kingdom. 

 

After the Fall, everything fell apart.  God, being Love, knew that created beings would not be able to remain in the state they were created in, and so He gave them all the time from the Creation to the Dread Judgment to come to their senses and return to the bosom of their Heavenly Father, to become one with Absolute Good and Absolute Love.

 

 Mankind, however, prefers evil to good.  Such is the result of our fallen nature!  It is easier for us to think evil than good.  But when we think evil, we have no peace or rest from such thoughts.  How great is our fall!  It is a strange thing indeed…We cannot seem to come to our senses, neither can we do good of our own selves.  We have no idea how very much our thoughts are tyrannized by the fallen spirits.  We think those are our thoughts.  We are tormented by hatred, envy, and malice.  Unsurpassed tyranny!  Our soul does not want this, but it cannot free itself.  It becomes accustomed to this tyranny from a very early age, so that is has become rooted firmly in the soul.  One must strive to conquer this tyranny of thoughts!  We must be transformed into love and acquire peace.  It is not easy, for our fall is very great. 

 

Man cannot do this without God’s help.  Man thinks very highly of himself.  But everything that is revealed to him comes from eternity.  We are surrounded by God’s mysteries.  We ourselves are the greatest mystery.  We don’t even know who we are, where we came from, and where we are going.  What sort of a being is this that thinks, moves and talks without knowing how or why?  What a great mystery this is!  How is it possible that our internal organs function without our will—and they function perfectly at that?  And how is it that we can disturb this perfect harmony with our thoughts? 



 



http://www.stherman.com/Catalog/Spiritual_Counsels/Elder_Thaddeus_Book.html

All living things long for God

Every living thing seeks love:  man, animals and plants.  All people seek God and long for Him, regardless of whether they are believers or unbelievers.  Some people call themselves atheists, but they do not know that in their hearts they long after God.  For when someone yearns for justice, love and truth, he is really yearning after God.  All people long for love that never changes and justice that is always the same.  All living things long for God.  The only difference is that some oppose Him and others don’t, some yearn after Him consciously while others are not aware that their yearning is really after God. 

iconographer:  Michael Kapeluck

available through Conciliar Press

On atheism

Some say that they are atheists, but there is no such thing as an atheist…No such thing.  Even the devil believes and trembles (cf. James 2:19), but he refuses to do good.  There is no such thing as a person who does not believe in God, and there is no rational being on earth that does not long after life with all his heart.  We will give anything to live eternally, and we all long after perfect love, love that never changes but lasts forever.  God is life, He is love, peace and joy.  There are those who oppose Him, but they can do nothing to hurt Him.  It is we who complicate our own lives with our negative thoughts. 

Attaining inner peace

Love little things and strive for that which is modest and simple.  When the soul is mature, God will give it inner peace.  The Lord watches over us and He is pleased that you long for His peace.  Until the soul is ready, He will only sometimes allow us to see that He is present everywhere and fills all things.  At these moments the soul feels such joy!  It feels as though it has everything!  But then the Lord conceals Himself from us again, in order that we might long for Him and seek Him with our hearts! 

God is at the center

God is at the center of every person’s life.  He is in our heart whether we accept Him or not.  He never separates Himself from us because He is the Giver of life Who gives life to every created being.  We have buried Him with our worries and worldly cares which destroy the peace within us, and that is why we have no peace or rest. No one on earth can give us unshakable inner peace.  Money cannot give us peace, neither can fame, honor, a high-ranking position, nor even our closest friends and family.  The only Giver of peace and life is the Lord.  He gives peace, stillness, and joy to the angels and the saints, to us and to every created thing.  Therefore, we must repent and turn to the Lord. 

From whence comes evil?

St. John Chrysostom teaches us that all evil comes first from ourselves and only secondly from the devil.  If we keep our minds vigilant and our hearts strong in the Faith, the devil has no access to us.  The devil only acts on our own evil thoughts and wishes.  When we are angry or envious, or when we have violent feelings toward someone, often or over a long period, we ourselves open the window of our heart to the demons.  Then they feed our sins and nurture them, and we cannot get rid of them easily.  Sometimes we wallow in certain sin for such a long time that it become second nature to us. In the case only God can save us, both from our own selves and from the claws of the demons. 

 

On stress, prayer & God's love

The Lord is the only One who bears our burdens and cares, all our infirmities and worries, both physical and of the spirit.  He can bear everything, for He is Almighty.  We must give over to Him all of our infirmities and those of our neighbors, through prayer.  That is what prayer is for.  We must be one with the Lord and we must not worry about tomorrow, for as He says, Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof, Matt 6:34.  This teaches us not to worry about tomorrow.  But we do:  we worry not only about tomorrow but even further than that, and this is very stressful for us. 

 

We are rational beings, created for one day of stress at a time.  Yet we torment ourselves much more than that, and therefore we suffer.  We are not obedient to the Lord when He tells us not to burden our hearts with food and drink and the cares of this world.  We burden our bodies and our souls.  Food and drink burden the body when we eat and drink more than we need.  Our bodies must work hard to digest all that food, and so they are burdened.  And if we also burden ourselves with thoughts, then the stress is doubled and so is our suffering.  That is why we must always be praying. 

God doesn’t need our prayers—we do.  When we pray to God, we’re actually talking to Him just as we talk to one another.  God is our Father.  We have no relative or friend here on earth who understands us and loves us as the Lord does.  His love can’t be put into words; it can be neither understood nor imagined.  We’re too small to understand the depth of God’s love.  His mercies are indescribable.  He gives of Himself to us without reserve, and we can’t even begin to understand this! 

Saved only by the mercy of God

We are called to do good deeds, but it is not through good deeds that we are saved.  If we were to be saved by our deeds, then it would not have been necessary for the Lord to come down and save us.  We are saved only by the mercy of God.  It is the Grace of God that saves.  The Lord saves.  We can get a reward for our good deeds, but salvation is from God. 

The seal of the Holy Spirit

The seal of the Holy Spirit is in our heart, which bears the fruits of our life.  Meekness, peace, a merciful heart, goodness, kindness, faith and abstinence are some of the fruits of tears offered to Christ from the heart.  The results of such tears are love of one’s enemies and prayers offered up to the Lord for them.  Tears give us strength to be joyful even in times of great suffering and tribulation and to look upon the sins of others as our own and repent for them.  Tears make it possible for us to lay down our life for our brother. 

The most powerful means of defense

The spirits of evil try to enslave us, so that we become tied to certain people or things, in order to prevent our hearts from going out to God --- the Source of life and love.  For they know that if our hearts unite with Him, then they cannot come close to us.  The man who is given Grace, and who is united with God's love, is also protected by this Divine love; and the evil spirits cannot come close to him.  Love is the most powerful means of defense there is.  There are no weapons - and no power - that can measure themselves against love.  Everything is defeated before love.