Help through prayer and a right attitude

When someone has a vice we should try to bombard him with rays of love and compassion so that he may be cured and freed.  These things are achieved only through the grace of God.  Think that this person is suffering more than you.  In a cenobitic monastery when someone is at fault, we should not tell him that he is to blame.  We must adopt an attitude of care, respect and prayer.  We must endeavor not to do anything harmful.  When we endure insults from our brother, it counts as martyrdom.  And it is something we should endure with joy. 

Regard others with sympathy

We should feel the malice of the other person as an illness which is tormenting him and which he is unable to shake off.  And so we should regard our brethren with sympathy and behave with courtesy towards them, repeating in our hearts with simplicity the prayer, ‘Lord Jesus Christ,’ so that the grace of God may strengthen our soul and so that we don’t pass judgment on anyone.   

We should regard all people as saints.  We all carry within us the same ‘old self.’  Our neighbor, whoever he is, is ‘flesh of our flesh,’ he is our brother and, according to St. Paul, we owe no one anything, except to love one another.  We can never pass judgment on others, for no one ever hated his own flesh. 

Reacting without love

Let’s suppose someone is all alone in the desert.  Suddenly he hears a voice crying out in distress in the distance.  He follows the sound and is confronted by a horrendous sight:  a tiger has grabbed hold of a man and is savaging him with its claws.  The man is desperately shouting for help.  In a few minutes he will be torn to pieces.  What can the person do to help?  Can he run to his side?  How?  It’s impossible.  Can he shout for help?  Who will hear him?  There is no one within earshot.  Should he perhaps pick up a stone and throw it at the man to finish him off?  ‘Certainly not,’ we would say.  But that’s exactly what can happen if we don’t realize that the other person who is acting badly towards us has been taken hold of by a tiger, the devil.  We fail to realize that when we react to such a person without love, it is as if we are throwing stones at his wounds and accordingly we are doing him great harm and the ‘tiger’ leaps onto us and we do the same as him and worse.  What kind of love do we have then for our neighbor and, even more importantly, for God? 

On personal injuries

When someone injures us in whatever way, whether with slanders or with insults, we should think of him as our brother who has been taken hold of by the enemy.  He has fallen victim to the enemy.  Accordingly we need to have compassion for him and entreat God to have mercy both on us and on him, and God will help both.  If, however, we are filled with anger against him, then the enemy will jump from him to us and make a mockery of us both.  A person who condemns others does not love Christ.  Our egotism is at fault.  This is where condemnation of others stems from.

How to be loved by others

Let us scatter our love selflessly to all, without regard to the way they act towards us.  When the grace of God enters us, we will not be concerned about whether they love us or not or whether they speak to us politely or not.  We will feel the need to love all people.  It’s egotism on our part to wish for others to speak to us politely.  If they don’t, we shouldn’t be upset.  Let them speak to us as they wish.  We needn’t become beggars for love.  Our aim should be to love them and pray for them with all our soul.  Then we will become aware that all people love us without our seeking it and without our begging for their love.  They will love us freely and sincerely from the depths of their heart without our blackmailing them. When we love without seeking to be loved, people will gather around us like bees.  This is true for everyone.

The pinnacle of love

Above everything is love.  The thing that must concern you, my children, is love for the other person, for his soul.  Whatever we do, whether it is prayer or offering advice or pointing out some error, let us do it with love.  Without love, prayer is of no benefit, advice is hurtful and pointing out errors is harmful and destructive to the other person who senses whether we love him or not and reacts accordingly.  Love, love, love!  Love for our brother prepares us to love Christ more.  Isn't that perfect?

Develop love for God and attain happiness

Love towards one's brother cultivates love towards God.  We are happy when we secretly love all people.  Then we will feel that everyone loves us.  No one can attain to God unless he first passes through his fellow men.  For the person who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?  (I John 4:20).  We need to love and sacrifice ourselves selflessly for everyone without seeking recompense.  A love that seeks something in return is selfish.  It is not genuine, pure and sincere.