Philokalia Ministries

Once again, we are presented with a kind of fickleness that can plague the human heart. We can be ever so changeable. This includes how we look upon even our greatest commitments. The moment something becomes a trial for us or where we are asked to endure something that is reprehensible, or that causes us some suffering, we will want to change the external circumstances of our life.  However, the fathers in their writing show us how the evil one constantly seeks to magnify such experiences to the point that they breakdown our commitment to our particular vocation or vows. The one who has lived the common life for years can have the seed implanted in his heart that he would be happier or holier as an anchorite. Or one who is old of age might be tempted into thinking that his life no longer has value, and that he can no longer fulfill the rule in the way that he did as a young man. He begins to think about retiring from the religious life all together. Such thinking is pervasive and enters into every vocation.  Having said this, however, we also have to be aware of the fact that we can face obstacles in our environment, such as the envy of others that becomes destructive or immorality. In these circumstances, it may be necessary to change one’s environment.  We need to recognize that we are responsible for the spiritual well-being and fidelity of others. If we treat others without love, without respect, then we can put their vocation and their spiritual life in jeopardy. This is a sober reminder of the solidarity that exist between us. The only way that we are allowed to treat another person is to love them. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:03:09 FrDavid Abernethy: Hello Navy Dave!!!   00:03:26 David Fraley: I love those photos of you and your mom! Neither of you have changed!   00:03:42 FrDavid Abernethy: I look older than she does   00:04:24 David Fraley: Mrs Abernethy, you and I met at the Oratory a few years ago.   00:47:37 Ren Witter: Something about all these examples makes me really sad, and I think it has something to do with how they show that our words and actions can have such a profound on the ability of another to resist temptation. In all these examples, the temptations would have little weight if the elder in question was treated in such a way that he was assured of the affection and support of his fellow, younger monks.   00:48:08 Ren Witter: I just imagine how the way we treat others makes them more or less susceptible   00:51:00 David Fraley: Reacted to "I just imagine how t…" with 👍   00:54:46 Ren Witter: I am thinking, and I don’t think this is an overstatement, that when we treat others in a way that says “you are worthless,” “you are not worth my time,” “you don’t deserve kindness,” “you are a lost cause,” and many other such things, that we are not just making them more susceptible to the temptations of the demons, but are in fact becoming the tempting demon ourselves. We are already doing the demons’ job for them.   00:58:14 Anthony: "The Three Musketeers" has a plotline about a woman who left the convent in a bad way, and she brought ruin and misery to several men throughout her life until an avenger caught up with her.  It ties together some themes discussed today.   00:59:58 Louise: Sometimes, to be ethical, we have to confront, directly or indirectly, the obvious incompetence and even maliciousness of others. Of course, their hidden demons come out then forcibly. This would not be a sin, right?   01:03:07 John Ingram: Replying to "Sometimes, to be eth..."   I think St. Francis de Sales talked about how to respond to negative people (heretics, etc.): treat them with honey, not with vinegar.   01:05:48 Louise: Replying to "Sometimes, to be eth..."   Good point! However, some people even envy you when you treat them with honey, because they do not have honey and they hate you for having honey.  

Piercing! The vision of a Saint becomes ever so sharp. Out of their own experience of the desert, and the spiritual warfare engaged in there, comes a wisdom that strikes, hopefully, our hearts. Our hearts can become hardened by being so long immersed in sin. When the sin becomes hardened and habitual, becomes a passion, it is not easy to break free from it.  Yet words alone, even the words of the Saints, are unable to break us free. There must be within our hearts a faith and willingness to take hold of the grace of God that comes to us through Christ to enter into the fray, to fight the good fight of faith, and to engage fully in the ascetical life.  Both the habit of sin and the temptation of the Evil One often keeps us mired deeply in darkness. Yet we must strive to let the little light that is given to us draw us forward and emboldened our hearts. A different vision of reality is set before us; one that has come into being through the Incarnation and the Paschal mystery. We are called, not simply to be good people and those of high natural virtue but rather sons and daughters of God. Christ’s virtue is to become our virtue. His strength must become our strength. This is not something that we seize upon with our own hands but receive with humility and gratitude. With these two virtues may we set out on the journey with an invincible hope. --- Text of chat during the group:   00:04:27 FrDavid Abernethy: page 144 paragraph 31   00:11:03 FrDavid Abernethy: page 144 para 31   00:23:03 Michael: Is there any truth to the idea that God is particularly merciful about "natural" sins? CS Lewis said something similar in Mere Christianity.   00:31:28 Anthony: I suggest we read the passage of the Woman caught in Adultery in the context of Susanna and the Elders.   00:53:09 Lawrence Martone: Sometimes we have to question if we are doing the right thing, but we don’t have a spiritual director.  Is there an equivalent of Ignatian Discernment methods with the Desert Fathers?   00:56:54 Daniel Allen: Is that type of humility why someone such as St Philip Neri can say (paraphrasing), I have done nothing good today I will begin again… and mean it? Because to the outside observer obviously St Philip did much good.   01:05:57 Brad Smith: Is this similar to Psalm 137:9 about dashing infants against the stone…i.e. dealing with the sin early and completely?   01:06:41 LauraLeigh Monterey: My Egyptian is food. :-) So, I am to turn the power behind that appetite toward its source, which is God, yes? Can you explain a little more what that means in practical terms? That is, how exactly does one "kill the Egyptian"? Would it depend on what the Egyptian is?   01:11:18 Ashley Kaschl: This makes me think a lot about a Christmas Carol when Scrooge is first visited by Marley and how he’s fearful of this chain wrapped all around his friend more so than the fact that he’s a ghost. And Marley asks him “do you know the weight and length of the chain you bear yourself?” And I think that’s a lot like this Egyptian and how we may not know we are slaves to our sin and wrapped in chains.   01:11:23 Anthony: Replying to "Is this similar to..."   That's what I was thinking.  I think the monks interpret it this way.   01:12:47 Cindy Moran: What is the title of Pope Shenouda's book?   01:13:35 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂   01:14:19 angelo: Thank you!   01:14:22 Cindy Moran: Thank you Father!!!   01:14:27 Bonnie Lewis: Thank you so much Father.  

We returned to hypothesis 40 and found ourselves sitting at the feet of Saint Ephrem the Syrian. We are shown with frightening clarity how the evil one works upon our minds and our hearts by making us question the value and the significance of our particular vocation.  We are often tempted to change externals; thinking that when we do so we will find a place that fosters greater sanctity, peace of mind and heart, or offers a greater opportunity for prayer. The evil one constantly seeks to tempt us to this instability in order that we might never put down deep roots - and so also never bear ripe fruit, if any fruit at all.  The grass always looks greener on the other side. There are always going to be things that seem to be lacking in our life or in our relationships, whether real or perceived, that make us vulnerable to this kind of attack. Therefore, we are counseled to be equally relentless in putting things to the test. We must fast and pray and seek the counsel of others. Likewise, we must never make decisions in moments of desolation. It is not as though the fathers are saying that we can never be called to walk another path. Rather, they are telling us that all of our actions must be guided by prudence; a kind of practical wisdom that arises out of long experience within the inner desert of the heart.  --- Text of chat during the group: 00:04:58 FrDavid Abernethy: page 342 top of the page   00:43:21 John Ingram: I'm wondering whether the extreme depravity of the modern world creates a greater temptation to retreat to a more extreme asceticism than, say, a century ago, or even during the times of the Desert Fathers. Thus we're in more danger of being thrown off balance from a balanced approach.   00:50:30 Louise: Would  recommend allowing ourselves to experience the void elated to the longing to be with the Beloved, being conscious and tolerating the pain of longing while also being in this world with its joys and pleasures in a contained way.   01:07:24 Louise: I think of Job these days. He was thrown into ascetism, losses, and pain, beyond his volition. God tested him via the evil one. At times, I imagine myself in the place of Job in a near future, in the hope to remain faithful and in love with God whatever happens, even I do not understand why this is occurring. Maybe Job's trial was a demonstration for us.   01:11:02 Adam Paige: It’s the feast of Job this week actually   01:14:05 Melissa Kummerow: Wish I had been able to tune in earlier but everything that's been talked about so far has been very timely to my own life right now. Seems to be par for the course with your groups, Father David lol  

How does one begin to speak about purity and chastity in an age that hyper-sensualizes the human experience?  When we define ourselves so tightly and, in particular, so tightly to disordered desire, how is it that we bear witness to and embrace the call of Saint John and the other fathers to purity? Part of the answer to these questions is to immerse ourselves in the vision of the fathers; their anthropology and psychology and the spirituality that shapes these things. However, this only begins to lead us to an understanding of who and what we have become in Christ.  If it remains purely notional we will inevitably be drawn back in to what the culture puts before us. What Christianity calls us to is to see ourselves only in light of Christ and to find meaning and identity in Him. Likewise, we must see the radical solidarity that exists between every one of us as human beings made in the image and likeness of God. We are called to a life of radical conversion and repentance.  When we look out into the world and see great evil or sin, our response must be to turn to God with even greater zeal and desire. We must embody the love, joy, peace, and purity of the kingdom. Anything less is going to ring hollow to the world. To speak of purity or chastity in simple moralistic or legalistic terms is to fail to understand what we have become in Christ. It is the Spirit of God that dwells within us and we are not called to embody natural virtue much less what private judgment puts forward as good. It is the beauty of Divine life that must shine forth in our every thought and action. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:08:51 FrDavid Abernethy: page 142, para 19   00:30:23 Anthony: I kind of think I (we?) try too hard to be Christians, and that is a self-centered and very difficult focus.  It's not the way of easy relief of Christ's cross.  It's my cross.   00:31:39 Anthony: My pastor once mentioned how we make our own heavy, too heavy crosses.   00:33:50 Eric Ewanco: I try to project the seraph serpent mounted on a pole to the Eucharist lifted up during the liturgy, sending out healing to me from the crucifixion of Christ   00:50:56 Michael: Oh wow, I thought it was just a metaphor. I didn’t realize he was literally talking about bestiality.   00:51:29 angelo: Reacted to "Oh wow, I thought it..." with 👍   00:55:18 Ashley Kaschl: This isn’t necessarily related to chastity but there’s a book about how normal people became murderers during WWII called “Ordinary Men” and its incredibly humbling. I would definitely recommend it. There’s a quote that always sticks with me from the psychological study of genocide in that book that states “Evil that arises out of ordinary thinking and is committed by ordinary people is the norm, not the exception.” (Ervin Staub, author of “The Roots of Evil: The Origins of Genocide and other Group Violence”)   00:58:41 Anthony: I get this idea from E Michael Jones: "Sexual Liberation is a tool of Social Control."  He bases this on St. Augustine and events in world history which illustrate how sexuality has been used to enslave the imagination and soul.  Maybe that will help.   01:01:03 Louise: At an older age, there is an appeasement of the bodily pulsions. Therefore, there is a lot of good to say about older age. I am thankful. Maybe it is partly due to my turning to the Beloved many years ago, repeating again and again in my Heart, ''There is no god but God.''   01:17:16 David: Isn't a lot of this the consequence of "Relativism". Feelings have replaced truth.   01:17:50 Louise: Otherwise, these people will sue you, as an honest clinician.   01:18:01 carol nypaver: True, David.   01:18:13 Ashley Kaschl: I wonder if it’s a step further than relativism. Vice has replaced virtue to the extent that it has become “virtuous” to extol it.   01:18:58 angelo: Thank you Father.   01:19:02 melissa kummerow: Thank you!!!!   01:19:05 David: Thank you father!   01:19:06 sue and mark: Good night everyone.  Thank you Father.  

Stability of place leads to and protects internal emotional and spiritual stability. One must not be tempted to change one’s external environment; thinking that somehow another place holds greater promise for producing virtue within our hearts. Such thoughts must be tested over the course of many years and placed before one’s spiritual elder for scrutiny. Often the evil one will seek to draw us along another path because we are being afflicted or frustrated or our self-esteem is being diminished in some fashion. We must keep our focus upon Christ in the midst of this battle. He alone is the wholly innocent One. He did not flee the Cross that was set before him and ultimately gave his assent to the Father’s will. Our faith and hope in God and what he can bring about by his providence and grace must be our guiding light.   ---   Text of chat during the group:   00:08:00 FrDavid Abernethy: page 336, Letter C   00:48:34 Ashley Kaschl: What you said about scripture where Jesus asks “do you want to be well?” reminded me of a part of the Surrender Novena to the Sacred Heart: “In pain you pray for me to act, but that I act in the way you want. You do not turn to me, instead, you want me to adapt to your ideas. You are not sick people who ask the doctor to cure you, but rather sick people who tell the doctor how to.”   00:52:55 Louise: Could it be that Theodora fully accepted this ordeal because she had previously deceived the monks of the monastery in believing that she was a man? Thus, this was a just punishment by God, which she embraced.   00:55:59 Louise: I see.   01:02:11 John Ingram: Not sure where this poem came from, but on the subject of spiritual pride, here is one stanza:   01:03:47 John Ingram: "And when the prayer unto my lips doth rise/"Let me but offer Thee some glorious sacrifice/Let me accomplish some great work for Thee!"/Subdue it, Lord, let my petition be Make me but useful in this world of Thine/In ways according to Thy Will, not mine."   01:05:00 Louise: Father, would you see anorexia as an ego-based asceticism driven by diabolical obsession?   01:05:30 John Ingram: No idea!   01:07:05 Paul Fifer: Found the poem…. Here is a link:  https://www.google.com/books/edition/Irish_Monthly/_W43AAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22And+when+the+prayer+unto+my+lips+doth+rise/%22Let+me+but+offer+Thee+some+glorious+sacrifice/Let+me+accomplish+some+great+work+for+Thee!%22/Subdue+it,+Lord,+let+my+petition+be+Make+me+but+useful+in+this+world+of+Thine/In+ways+according+to+Thy+Will,+not+mine.%22&pg=PA509&printsec=frontcover   01:07:09 John Ingram: Follow-up to other stanza: first stanza is: "Let me not die before I've done for Thee/my earthly work, whatever it may be./ Call me not hence with mission unfulfilled/ let me not leave my space of ground untilled."   01:07:51 Ashley Kaschl: Reacted to "Follow-up to other s…" with ❤️   01:09:38 David Fraley: Reacted to "Follow-up to other s…" with ❤️   01:14:39 Sandy Nelson: A first time listener this evening . . where can I get a copy of the Evergetinos?   01:15:08 Ashley Kaschl: Reacted to "A first time listene…" with ❤️   01:15:23 Sandy Nelson: Thank you   01:16:58 sue and mark: Thank you Father.  God bless everyone.  

The depth of the fathers’ understanding of the workings of the mind and the heart, the appetites and desires, is staggering. One of the great fruits of the ascetic life of the Desert fathers is what it reveals about the desert of the human heart. Jeremiah the prophet wrote: “The human heart is a treacherous thing.  Who can endure it“. How true this is! St. John Climacus gradually begins us to draw us in to the subtle workings of our bodily appetites, in particular those tied to sensuality. Our vision of ourselves, and others can become so easily distorted by our sin. We become unable to see the beauty not only of the world around us, but of the human person and every aspect of their being. We all use ourselves and others and the things of this world in a desperate attempt to fill a void within our hearts. We long for the love of God. Even the atheist, one who denies God with all their heart, experiences this longing. They may be completely unaware of its source but nonetheless desperately seek something to fill it. And in those times when we are not wrapped up in the attempt or the delusion of fullness, we experience depression. There is no human being that does not experience isolation and the pain of loneliness even when surrounded by others and an abundance of worldly goods. St. John painstakingly reveals to us the nature of the struggle for purity of heart in order that we might be freed from seeking for the love and fullness anywhere else than in the bosom of God.  --- Text of chat during the group: 00:01:25 Kevin Burke: I am just getting started on this forum and really enjoying it, I plan to catch up with the previous lessons as well.   Can you tell me what version of the book that we are using in this forum? I have the Paulist version but it’s very different and I would like to get the precise same version.   00:03:14 Adam Paige: Replying to "I am just getting st..."   The Holy Transfiguration Monastery version we use is a revision of this earlier 1959 translation: http://www.prudencetrue.com/images/TheLadderofDivineAscent.pdf   00:31:20 Anthony: St. Gregory of Narek on the Song of Songs does a very good job of drawing holy innocence from a love story.   00:34:04 Anthony: Replying to "St. Gregory of Nar..."   "The Blessing of Blessings: Gregory of Narek on the Song of Songs" Translated from the AArmenian by Roberta Ervine, Cistercian Publications, (c) 2007   00:34:48 Louise Gaston: Would you say that purity of heart coupled with an observing ego allows for a sensitive detachment and discernment? With God's grace too?   00:34:51 angelo: Reacted to ""The Blessing of Ble..." with ❤️   00:38:55 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: "greater still is the man unhurt by all he has looked upon." says this translation...   00:39:24 Rodrigo Castillo: The Blessing of Blessings: Grigor of Narek's Commentary on the Song of Songs (Cistercian Studies books) (Volume 215) https://a.co/d/7ZqSBAW   00:40:44 angelo: Reacted to "The Blessing of Bles..." with 👍   00:41:31 Louise Gaston: Would you say that one's engagement in pornography, gluttony, etc. is basically a defense against the pain of our longing for God's presence?   00:45:59 Adam Paige: Reacted to ""The Blessing of Ble..." with ❤️   00:46:08 Adam Paige: Reacted to "The Blessing of Bles..." with 👍   00:50:07 Anthony: Fr. Barnabas Powell (Greek Orthodox) has a saying "You are not your thoughts."  I think that has a place in psychological reflection   00:50:30 Jeff O.: Reacted to "Fr. Barnabas Powell ..." with 👍   00:52:18 Sean: In ‘Christ — Our Pascha’, the Ukrainian Catholic catechism, it says:    “When a person in prayer meets God in the depths of one's heart, one already here on earth directly experiences that which the apostle Paul describes as seeing God ‘face to face’ (1 Cor 13:12). The person ‘sees’ the One in whom he or she has believed. The person abides in God's presence. The apostle Paul compares this new state of the person to a ‘seeing’ of God…it is a ‘seeing’ of the Invisible One.“ And Metropolitan Hierotheos in ‘Orthodox Psychotherapy’ writes: “The pure heart is the organ of knowledge, the organ of Orthodox epistemology.”    Thank you, Father☦️   https://eeparchy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Christ-our-Pascha-Catechism-of-the-Ukrainian-Catholic-Church-by-Comission-for-the-Catehism-z-lib.org_.pdf   00:53:42 Adam Paige: Reacted to "Fr. Barnabas Powell ..." with 👍   00:59:12 Anthony: So truth must be, as Soren Kierkegaard said, Objective-subjective.  The internal assent must be actively given to the external reality.  This is how the Blessed Virgin MAry lived.   00:59:46 Adam Paige: Reacted to "So truth must be, as..." with 🇩🇰   01:01:13 Louise Gaston: Difficult question - Is Christ in the Eucharist when it is consecrated by ''funny'' modernist priests? (those with an irrespectful attitude)   01:04:47 angelo: Fr. I have a question: self-flagellation as a mortification is still be helpful in this battle? I heard  that it is no longer permitted by the church.   01:07:15 David: This seems different by culture. The chapel of N. Sra of Guadalupe still washes blood on the cobblestones from the knees of faithful entering the chapel   01:08:08 David: Opus Dei still uses the cilus   01:10:16 Jeff O.: Thank you!   01:10:18 Sean: Thank you, Father☦️   01:10:19 David: Thank you father!   01:10:22 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂   01:10:28 Cindy Moran: Thank you Father!  

Tonight we made the transition from St. John’s Step on Gluttony and its offspring to our discussion of Purity and Chastity in Step number 15. Again, as we read slowly through the text and begin to unpack it, we begin to see the larger picture; the image of humanity redeemed. We see what it means to be made in the image and likeness of God, and the experience of embracing our full dignity and identity.  What is held out to us is an incorruptible freedom and joy as our love becomes ordered toward God. We begin to see the true beauty of the things of the world, of others, and of God himself. As I’ve often mentioned, the desert fathers were the first depth psychologists; they present to us the path that brings healing of soul. They see the human person in his fullness and we see in their writings such our true dignity and destiny.  Our struggle often is found in the fact that we’ve never come to taste that freedom, the joy, the capacity to love unimpeded by our sin. The ascetic life is not about endurance, or personal health or the ordering of our life so much as it is about the desire for God, his love, and to share in the life that he makes possible for us. It has been said that “Beauty will save the world”. In the writings of the fathers, we are called to see this beauty first in the person of Christ; and in and through him the beauty of the life that is held out to us. May we desire it with all of our hearts. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:12:16 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: Who? Author?   00:12:44 Anthony: Pope Shenouda   00:13:09 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: THanks   00:13:35 FrDavid Abernethy: page 138   00:13:38 FrDavid Abernethy: no 32   00:14:03 Anthony: If y'all have Coptic Orthodox parishes nearby with food festivals .... GO!   00:23:15 Cindy Moran: This reminds me of: the kingdom suffers violence and the violent seize it by force--Mt 11:12   00:25:17 Debra: What Step and paragraph   00:26:44 Lori Hatala: step 14 para 36   00:26:55 Debra: Replying to "step 14 para 36"   Thank you!   00:32:35 Anthony: I get it, but cooking is an art.  Food is beautiful.  Nothing God made - matter or form - is evil.  What we consider to be food needs reform.  Our habits need reform to appreciate the art.  But I'm a bit concerned that some of these fathers are a presenting the stick too much and the carrot to little.   00:39:23 Ambrose Little, OP: Replying to "I get it, but cookin..."   The carrot is food, which is bad. ;)   00:39:39 angelo: Reacted to "The carrot is food, ..." with 😂   00:40:08 Anonymous Sinner: The movie Babette’s Feast comes to mind   00:42:27 Anthony: In Sicilian, the word for this kind of boorish glutton is gavonne (cafone).   00:43:47 Bonnie Lewis: I love that movie.  It's beautiful.   00:47:27 Anthony: I don't suppose I pray as much as I "should," but I have a wondrous happiness when creating like cooking   00:48:58 Bridget McGinley: Father this is a little off topic… was St John Cassian a priest? Also, Do you know of any books which talk about his devotion to St Mary Magdalene? I recently returned from France/Spain where I learned St John founded a monastery adjacent to her cave in 415. The Cassians protected her cave for hundreds of years. The Dominicans have had it since about the 1200’S. It just seems like he understood penance on the same level as she did.   00:49:54 wayne: Well we now have foods that create little preparation and in turn we have lost the art form of preparation and also we don't have the sense of where our food comes from.   00:50:57 Bridget McGinley: Sorry I know it was a little off topic.   00:51:39 angelo: That is true Father that the meal table is no longer table of sharing, I live and I am from a family first immigrant of this country and we all have jobs in different shifts and we don't see each other, eating alone is so sad that leads to eat more and more and watch tv until we doze off.   00:52:02 Anthony: Replying to "I get it, but cook..."   Carrot slaw, carrot cake....   00:52:10 Anthony: Reacted to "The carrot is food..." with 😂   00:52:21 Anthony: Reacted to "Well we now have f..." with 👍   00:52:39 Anthony: Reacted to "That is true Fathe..." with ❤️   00:54:34 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: In Eastern monasteries, the refectory walls are covered with iconography.   00:54:44 Anthony: Reacted to "In Eastern monaste..." with ❤️   00:54:49 Vicki Nichols: Replying to "Father this is a lit..."    Saint Mary Magdalene by Fr. Davidson is a good book   00:55:17 angelo: Reacted to "In Eastern monasteri..." with ❤️   00:55:33 Ashley Kaschl: Reacted to "Saint Mary Magdalene…" with ❤️   01:18:43 Ashley Kaschl: It’s probably obvious, but this section makes me think of the Beatitudes. Aristotle had a maxim that said, “As a person is, so does he see.” And I think that once we are granted the grace necessary to slowly make our hearts undivided in love, then too, do we become pure of heart, and our vices are chipped away to make room for virtue so that we might, at the end of our lives, see God face to face. “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.”   01:19:37 Anthony: Reacted to "It’s probably obv..." with ❤️   01:19:48 Ashley Kaschl: 😂😂😂   01:20:09 angelo: Reacted to "It’s probably obviou..." with ❤️   01:20:10 Ambrose Little, OP: Reacted to "It’s probably obviou..." with ❤️   01:20:18 Debra: Reacted to "It’s probably obviou..." with ❤️   01:21:38 angelo: thank you   01:21:48 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂   01:21:51 David: Thank you father!   01:21:52 Bonnie Lewis: good night Father.   01:21:56 Jeff O.: Thank you! God bless your pilgrimage Angela!   01:21:58 Rachel : Thank  

We rarely think of the importance of stability; not only in our external environment, but the stability of thought and emotion. It is precisely this that is addressed in Hypothesis 40. One can easily be tempted, with good reason, for a multitude of reasons, to move to another place, where one can find greater tranquility and peace in the spiritual life. Yet, such thoughts are often the work of the evil one. Wherever we go, we take our selves with us, including our passions.  And so, we receive multiple stories and examples of monks and saints who were put to the test in this regard.  We can allow ourselves with great ease to begin to daydream; to imagine a kind of life that will bring peace and happiness to us or that would be pleasing to God. The danger is that we often are motivated by our personal judgment and sensibilities or by the actions of the evil one.  We must understand that in this world we know no peace, except for that which is found in Christ. While we are in this world, we are engaged in constant spiritual warfare and should expect nothing less. In fact, we were told that we must become like the cherubim - “all eyes.”  We must constantly watch for the subtle ways that the evil one seeks to draw us away from the path of obedience and humility. --- Text of chat during the group:   00:11:33 FrDavid Abernethy: page 330 Letter E   00:54:48 Erick chastain: What hypothesis/ book are we on?   00:55:21 carol nypaver: P.334   00:55:26 Eric Ewanco: XL.A.2   00:55:59 Erick chastain: Reacted to "P.334" with 👍   00:56:28 carol nypaver: Please say book name again?   00:56:52 John Ingram: https://www.amazon.com/Life-Repentance-Purity-Pope-Shenouda/dp/0881415324?ref_=nav_ya_signin   00:56:59 Cindy Moran: Great idea.   00:57:55 Sean: Reacted to "Great idea. " with 👍   01:03:37 Sean: Along this line, I have friends who have considered converting to Orthodoxy. Can you speak to pursuing holiness in our Church and not leaving in this context? Thank you, Father☦️   01:06:26 Erick chastain: Pope Francis said Sunday that evangelization doesn't get done by keyboard warriors   01:08:17 John Ingram: I think Our Lord told us that in these times, charity would grow cold - which is exactly what is happening with all these internal disputes in the Church.   01:17:31 Eric Ewanco: “One does not proclaim the Gospel standing still, locked in an office, at one’s desk or at one’s computer, arguing like ‘keyboard warriors’ and replacing the creativity of proclamation with copy-and-paste ideas taken from here and there. The Gospel is proclaimed by moving, by walking, by going.” — Pope Francis, General Audience, Wednesday, 12 April 2023   01:27:27 Cindy Moran: 🙏   01:27:58 sue and mark: God Bless everyone.  

How striking it is to hear the nature of the struggle with gluttony and the need for fasting spoken of with such zeal and clarity! Such practices have for the most part fallen by the wayside or have been minimized to such an extent as to be equally nonexistent. The unfortunate fruit of this is that we often have never tasted the freedom and the strength comes through ordering our appetite for food. Thus, the humbling of the mind and the body and the deepening of the experience of prayer through the stilling of the thoughts is also rarely experienced.  We need to take hold of the wisdom of the fathers and their zeal that will allow us to put it into practice.  St. John tells us that when God sees the movement of the mind abs the heart towards Him through these practices that He will aid us with His grace.  We also see that the fathers have a very clear sense of the workings of the human mind and how we experience our bodily appetites. Their observations of what takes place on a physiological level are astute and reveal the depth of their experience. All of it is meant to fashion within our hearts a renewed desire for the ascetic life.  We must see that which is uniquely an distinctively Christian about these practices. For while St. John and the other fathers speak of them so frequently, they also understand that their beginning and end is found in one’s relationship with God. The desire for God’s love must compel us.  --- Text of chat during the group: 00:05:51 FrDavid Abernethy: page 136. paragraph 17   00:11:08 FrDavid Abernethy: page 136 paragraph 17   00:17:21 Bridget McGinley: Whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things- Philippians 3:19   00:23:45 Emma C: I have a question!   00:24:02 Emma C: I was wondering can fasting help with other attachments to the world like shopping?   00:24:10 Brett Pavia, BCMA: I have a question …   00:24:15 Emma C: Excessive shopping*   00:36:18 Rachel : That's a fantastic idea.   00:36:40 Anthony: The back of the Publican's Prayer Book has a guide to ease into fasting, written by Patriarch Gregorios III. Also, Italian food is a LOT of peasant food (cucina povera).   00:41:40 Rachel : You have good friends. In Cali, you can find something at a steakhouse though.   00:42:12 Rachel : "Crab feed"   00:42:19 Anthony: This one does.  Fish is usually penance.  So is soup. ;)   00:42:21 Ambrose Little, OP: I dunno. Ours is plain, and I don’t like fish. 😄 😄   00:42:27 Ren Witter: Reacted to "I dunno. Ours is pla..." with 😄   00:42:44 Ren Witter: Yea, I’ve smelled some fish fries that seem pretty penitential   00:57:18 Ambrose Little, OP: Ora et labora?   01:01:31 Anthony: Prayer is serious. It takes work.  A person can stay up and watch entertainment, but it isn't work - but stay up too late and you feel horrible.  Maybe it's a counterfeit to work to make the work of a vigil distasteful.   01:06:06 Anthony: Same here, Brett   01:08:01 David: A priest suggested finding a rock or something to hold in one hand during prayer. I have a rock from a Jesuit retreat house and it helps get my mind focused. It becomes a habit when held my mind goes to God.   01:15:31 Debra: Reacted to "Yea, I’ve smelled so..." with 😆   01:15:51 Mitch: On our commitment to Christ I’ve often felt like I have spiritual amnesia. I feel at home when in the spiritual work and then I go out into the world with its suffering again and forget my true home. I feel like my task each day is to remember the truth   01:19:33 Sean: Met. Kallistos of blessed memory said that unceasing prayer is not something that we say from time to time, but rather something that we are, all of the time (even during sleep)☦️   01:20:21 Jeff O.: Reacted to "Met. Kallistos of bl..." with 👍   01:22:29 Mitch: Thank you very much Happy Easter/Pascha to everyone!   01:22:30 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you!🙂 Happy Easter everyone   01:22:34 Sean: Thank you, Father   01:22:36 Jeff O.: Thank you! Happy Easter   01:22:36 angelo: thank you   01:22:37 Rachel : Thank you!   01:22:43 David: Thank you!   01:22:43 Deiren: Happy Easter  

As a special reflection for this Holy Week, we chose a reading from Fr., Thomas Acklin‘s book “The Passion of the Lamb.”  In particular we reflected on the chapter entitled “Behold His Face.” As one participant in tonight‘s group stated: “This reflection is a gem!”  I agree. It is a rarest of gems and I’m grateful to Fr. Tom for writing it and the entire book. While small, it has had an incalculable effect upon me and I hope for all who listen to this podcast.  What Fr. Tom seeks to do is to open our minds and our hearts to the truth revealed in the Passion of Christ. So often we approach this mystery bound by the limits of our reason and our sin. Fr. Tom challenges us to allow ourselves to be guided and drawn into the mystery by faith; to comprehend what God has revealed to us and what is beyond the measure of man’s mind.  Many Christians throughout the centuries have struggled with the mystery of the Cross and the reality of our Lord’s suffering. Theologically, the human mind, almost in a form of resistance, intellectually and spiritually, tries to hold on to the notion of God being impassible. We are comfortable with notions of God being all powerful and all knowing. What we have trouble understanding and what we are often unwilling to embrace is the reality of a God who is Omni-kenotic and Omni-vulnerable. What Fr. Tom wants us to reflect upon is a God in whom we see and attribute not human deficiencies and sinfulness, hatred, ignorance, or illness. Rather, he wants us to contemplate and attribute to God in an infinite and perfect way the good qualities that we have in a finite and even deficient way. Thus, Fr. Tom says, rather than being impassible, incapable of feeling or having passion as we do as human beings, it would be more accurate to say that not only Christ but all three persons of the Trinity are infinitely caring, infinitely affected by us; Omni-passible. To believe such a thing is to understand that “at the height of his agony, he could see, not only the people who stood before him, jeering or weeping, but all the people of all time. He saw us in our loving and in our refusing to love, our sinning and our repenting. At the same eternal moment, he took on all the moments of every life and death. He could be the infinite love of God in person to each human being who ever lived, and who will ever live.”  May God bless us this Holy Week with the gift of faith to see this love, this perfect vulnerability, even in the smallest measure. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:05:42 FrDavid Abernethy: https://mcusercontent.com/c38acab568d650f7ef65f39df/files/679d1720-7a17-e9b4-7355-2bd4ae5431fd/Behold_His_Face_Booklet.pdf   00:14:52 Cath Lamb: I don't have microphone or camera 😊   00:18:31 Rebecca Thérèse: England   00:18:36 CathyQ: Canadian too!   00:18:41 Kristen's I Phone: Alberta Canada!   00:18:59 Michael: Pittsburgh!   00:19:07 michele: Buffalo ny   00:19:09 Cath Lamb: Colorado USA   00:19:10 kevin: BOSTON   00:19:16 James Moran: Appleton WI   00:39:47 Michael: Shroud of Turin video https://www.youtube.com/live/HAbuG-oVq1Q?feature=share   00:43:25 CathyQ: Reacted to "Shroud of Turin vide..." with ❤️   01:44:49 Sean: Hi Father, I think (from what I have seen) that a problem might be people seeing heaven in the future rather than deification as a reality we can begin to participate in here and now. ☦️   01:44:49 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂   01:45:53 Kristen's I Phone: Reacted to "Shroud of Turin vide…" with ❤️   01:47:30 sheri: Thank you.  Good night.   01:47:40 Patricia: Thank You!   01:47:46 Michael: Thank you Fr   01:48:04 Kristen's I Phone: Thank you!   01:48:12 michele: Thank you   01:48:53 kevin: beautiful talk excellent ,  thank you for sharing Father   01:49:08 David Fraley: Thank you, Father David.   01:49:09 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: Fr. Tom needs our +prayers.. He's sick.   01:49:28 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: Long term problem   01:49:34 Patricia: Do you know Fr. Justin?