And I learned that love is different in strength. Whoever fears God in order not to insult Him: this is the first kind of love. Whoever has a mind clear of unnecessary thought — this is the second form of love, greater than the first. Whoever feels the presence of grace in his soul — this is the third form of love, even greater.
The fourth, absolute, love for God is to have grace in your body as well as your soul.
The love of God is greater than that bodily love that attracts the entire world, except those who have the grace of God in full, for the sweetness of the Holy Spirit recreates the entire person and teaches to love God completely. In the fullness of the love of God, the soul does not touch the earth; though one may live among others in the world, he forgets all in the world thanks to the love of God. Our misfortune is that we are too proud to stand in that grace, and it leaves our souls, and the soul searches for it, crying and weeping, and says, "My soul pines for the Lord."
Whoever wishes to love the Lord must love his enemies and be without spite; then the Lord will give you to glorify Him day and night, and your mind will forget the world; and if it should return and remember, then it will pray diligently for the world.
This is how the saints lived, for the Spirit of God taught their souls to pray for others.
Whoever has not felt grace cannot know what it is to desire it. Most people have become attached to the worldly, and they cannot understand that nothing worldly could ever take the place of the Holy Spirit. The Lord takes His grace from the soul and in this manner mercifully and wisely teaches it to be humble, for it was for the soul that He spread His arms on the Cross with such great suffering. He gives the soul the ability to struggle against our enemies, but the soul by itself is powerless to achieve victory; for this reason it is said, "Ask, and ye shall receive." And if we do not ask, then we but torment and rob ourselves of the grace of the Holy Spirit, without which the soul remains confused, because it cannot see the will of God.
The Lord loves people, but sends them sorrows, so that they can understand their weakness and be humbled, and for their humility they can accept the Holy Spirit. With the Holy Spirit all is good, all is joyous, all is wonderful.
One might suffer greatly from poverty and ill-health, yet not be humbled: and so suffer in vain. But whoever is humbled is happy with any fate because the Lord is his wealth and joy, and all people will be amazed at the beauty of his soul.
Elder Siluan
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Brother Thomas ©2013
1 comment:
Brother Thomas,
I read your post on the Orthodox tradition, and it seemed to me like you may have implied that we worship the saints in expressing your respect for the Orthodox Church. Please allow me to say that we in the Orthodox Church do not worship icons or saints, that the saints are exemplary men and women whom we venerate. We deeply respect and honor those who strove to be like Christ, were filled with the Grace of God, and fought valiantly against the world, the flesh, and the devil.
In offering prayers to such magnificent figures as the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, Saint Nicholas of Myra (our parish's patron) or our individual patron/matron saints we seek their aid in our own individual and corporate struggles. This connects us with the Kingdom of Heaven and with Christ and often grants us invisible grace, and as Father Brendan says, sometimes we pray to our friends the saints not because Christ can't hear us or relate to us but because we in our fallen state find it difficult to hear and relate to Him.
God Bless You,
Kyril
PS there's a great website for reading on most things Orthodox designed for people from most Christian backgrounds called "The Orthodox Christian Information Center" at orthodoxinfo.com.
You may also appreciate the documentary on the life and effect of a great saint of the last century, Saint John Maximovitch Archbishop of Shanghai and San Francisco. You can find it on YouTube in several parts. it is entitled, "Life of St. John Maximovici." I will attempt to provide a couple of links below:
http://orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/invocationofsaints.aspx
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG4SA3XBuLU&feature=related
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