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.