The Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian - Homily VI, Part IX

St. Isaac does not flatter us.

He does not tell us that the ascetic life is noble. He tells us it burns.

He does not tell us it is peaceful. He tells us it wounds.

He does not tell us it feels like fulfillment. He tells us it feels like loss.

Because what stands at the heart of the ascetic life is not discipline.

It is death.

Not the death of the body, but the death of the self that has lived for itself.

And until that self begins to die, the soul remains cold.

The modern man wants illumination without humiliation. He wants consolation without affliction. He wants joy without tears. He wants Christ without crucifixion.

But St. Isaac tells us plainly. The sign that the soul is drawing near to life is not comfort.

It is fire.

Your heart is aflame both day and night.

This fire does not come from effort. It comes from surrender.

It comes when a man has ceased defending himself.

It comes when he has ceased preserving his image.

It comes when he has ceased negotiating with God.

He stands stripped of illusions. He sees his poverty. He sees his weakness. He sees that he has nothing.

And this is where grace begins.

Because God does not fill what is full.

He fills what has been emptied.

The Lord says through the prophet Isaiah

I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite.

The fathers knew this.

Abba Poemen said

The man who understands his sins is greater than the man who raises the dead.

Because the one who raises the dead may still live for himself.

But the one who sees his sins has begun to die.

And it is this death that gives birth to tears.

St. Isaac says that tears join themselves to every work.

Not because the man is trying to weep.

But because he can no longer protect himself from reality.

He sees God.

He sees himself.

He sees the distance between them.

And he weeps.

These tears are not weakness.

They are truth.

They are the breaking of the heart that has lived in false strength.

King David understood this when he said

My sacrifice is a contrite spirit. A humbled and contrite heart you will not spurn.

God does not desire your accomplishments.

He desires your brokenness.

Because brokenness is the door through which He enters.

This is why St. Isaac says that afflictions suffered for the Lord are more precious than every offering.

Because affliction destroys the illusion that you are alive apart from God.

Affliction reveals the truth.

That you are dust.

That you are weak.

That you cannot save yourself.

And the ego cannot survive this revelation.

This is why affliction is feared.

Not because it harms us.

But because it exposes us.

The Apostle Paul understood this mystery when he said

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed. Perplexed, but not driven to despair. Struck down, but not destroyed. Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

Affliction carries death into the false self.

So that life may be born in the true self.

And this is where the paradox appears.

Because the man who embraces affliction does not become miserable.

He becomes free.

St. Isaac says that when this fire is born in the soul, the whole world becomes ashes.

Not because the world is hated.

But because it no longer enslaves him.

He no longer needs it to feel alive.

He no longer needs recognition.

He no longer needs control.

He no longer needs to preserve himself.

Because he has found something greater.

He has found Christ.

And Christ becomes his life.

St. Paul says

I count all things as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

This is not poetry.

This is the testimony of a man who has passed through affliction into freedom.

Because when the false life dies, the true life appears.

And this life cannot be taken.

This is the joy that St. Isaac speaks of.

Not emotional happiness.

But the unshakable certainty that Christ has become your life.

This joy is born in tears.

It is born in humiliation.

It is born in affliction.

It is born when the man ceases running from the cross.

Christ did not say

Avoid suffering.

He said

Take up your cross and follow me.

Because the cross is not the end.

It is the door.

On the other side of affliction stands resurrection.

On the other side of humiliation stands freedom.

On the other side of tears stands joy.

This is why St. Isaac warns us.

If the fire grows cold, woe to you.

Because the greatest tragedy is not suffering.

It is returning to sleep.

It is returning to self protection.

It is returning to the illusion that you can live apart from God.

The ascetic life is not about becoming strong.

It is about becoming defenseless before God.

It is about allowing Him to strip away everything false.

It is about allowing Him to destroy what cannot live.

So that what is eternal may appear.

And when this happens, the man no longer fears affliction.

Because he has seen what it produces.

He has seen the fire.

He has tasted the tears.

He has known the joy that cannot be taken.

And he understands at last the words of Christ

Your sorrow will turn into joy.

Not because suffering disappears.

But because Christ has become your life.

And nothing can take Him away.

---

Text of chat during the group:

00:00:58 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 177 paragraph 24

00:07:15 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 177 paragraph 24

00:07:36 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Ascetic life begins where excuses die
When a man stops speaking about God and begins to suffer for Him
Humility takes root so deeply that tear flow unceasingly
Heart burns without knowing why
When grace comes the battle grows more dangerous - soul tempted to become prudent. Where most turn back
Ascetic life requires a kind of violence against instinct to survive

00:16:15 Jesssica Imanaka: Looks I can attend these retreats since they don't start until the 21st.

00:20:28 Angela Bellamy: The devil does not only tempt with sin — he tempts with carefulness. I remember that from the "Unseen warfare"

00:30:50 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: Baptism of the Holy Spirit?

00:31:58 Ryan Ngeve: Father with his emphasis on tears, does that mean a lack of tears entails the lack of working of the Holy Spirit

00:32:00 Angela Bellamy: Does such a thing that has happened that the unemotional/tenderness tears come... Would "carefulness take it away before time"

00:36:24 Angela Bellamy: Reacted to "Does such a thing th..." with ❤️

00:39:24 Angela Bellamy: But with certainty one can assume that they are the one who pulled away, not Him? So there can be a drawing near again...?

00:46:03 Holly Hecker: it would appear that consolations at these times could be sort of dangerous - do we want to go back or go forward

00:46:09 David Swiderski, WI: I have noticed when repentance seems distant my mind turns towards pride forgetting being freed from it is not by me but by grace of something. When I turn back to repentance I find myself like Abba moses walking around with a hole in a bag of sand and more open to others struggles

00:50:21 John ‘Jack’: Since reading the fathers, I’ve come to realize that I am only responsible for my own salvation, it seems like our culture has convinced us that we are somehow responsible for others salvation. Since I’ve been focused on this I’ve found my “witness” if you will has become far less burdensome.

00:54:35 Joan Chakonas: My prayers are usually in context of afflictions (my judgmentalism, my ridicule, my thoughts in general from living my day )and asking for Gods help and guidance.  When I am at peace I am not actively petitioning God for abstract things - I am trying to repent all the time and peace is what I get when I get His message.

00:55:09 David Swiderski, WI: Sin is followed by shame, Repentance is followed by boldness- St. John Chrysotom

00:56:10 Joan Chakonas: I just say thank you God over and over when I get to peace.

00:56:26 John ‘Jack’: Perfectly stated, Father thank you.

00:56:53 Myles Davidson: Reacted to "I just say thank you..." with ❤️

01:01:18 Anthony: Preach Father! I saw the Faith in Southern Italy was so different in its tone than what I've seen as an American Catholic.

01:01:41 Myles Davidson: A word for sorrowful joy seems like a word we lack in English (bittersweet is probably the closest). Is this the Greek word you mean Father? χαρμολύπη (charmolýpi)… pronounced as khar-mo-LEE-pee

01:02:05 Ben: Anna; This conversation reminds me of something Jesus said, "This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you."

01:02:45 Angela Bellamy: Reacted to "Anna; This conversat..." with ❤️

01:02:57 David Swiderski, WI: Reacted to "Anna; This conversat..." with ❤️

01:05:51 Angela Bellamy: I'm not really sure why this conversation reminds me of Malachi. 😅

01:06:20 Angela Bellamy: Reacted to "I just say thank you..." with ❤️

01:09:25 John ‘Jack’: Heaven is now. ❤️

01:09:47 Jesssica Imanaka: Reacted to "Preach Father! I saw..." with 👍

01:12:07 Ben: Replying to "A word for sorrowful..."

What about "penthos"?

01:19:19 Anthony: In our groups Carol used to mention Olivier Clement, Song of Tears, that God meets us in our private hells. He descends down there with us.

01:20:15 Jesssica Imanaka: Reacted to "In our groups Carol ..." with ❤️

01:20:54 Jesssica Imanaka: and also to have confidence that God is with others in their Hells

01:21:10 Angela Bellamy: I was surprised to read that in Psalms 139. I can't understand what I've been taught in my protestant upbringing anymore.

01:21:18 Anthony: The devils are like wolves, isolating the wounded and weak, wanting to devour them.

01:21:30 Anthony: Reacted to I was surprised to r... with "❤️"

01:23:37 Jessica McHale: it's one of the hardest things I've had to do for priests--to be with them spiritually in the ugliness of sin--but doing it has shown me the mercy God has had one me for all MY sins too. It's hard. But He's walked with me though it all and let me know it too. Some of the things He's shown me I never want to see again--the real spiritual battle we are all in. It's scary.

01:25:28 Jesssica Imanaka: Calvinism

01:26:29 Angela Bellamy: Thank you Father.

01:26:43 John ‘Jack’: Always

01:27:25 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️

01:27:34 David Swiderski, WI: Thank you Father may God bless you and your mother and this group.

01:27:50 Jessica McHale: Amen! Many prayers for you all! I love this group! Thank you, Father!

01:28:14 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You Blessing

01:28:21 cameron: Thank you Father!