Philokalia Ministries

Tonight we read Step number 12 on Lying. Surprisingly this has always been a challenging step to read and to read as a group. Immediately our minds begin to swirl with the costs of loving the Truth and understanding that Truth is a person. Our starting point in such discussions is often examples that are extreme; things or circumstances that people might face within this life where lying might be justified. St. John addresses this and much more within the step. However, one has to be willing to suspend judgment and allow St. John to guide us along a path that deepens our sensitivity in regards to the Truth as a whole. Our starting point must be Christ. We must begin to understand that lying is a sin against charity, and to lie when making a vow or an oath is a denial of God himself. St. John understands very well that the Evil One can use something as innocent and enjoyable as humor to justify and to legitimize lying.  Yet, John tells us that there are no small lies and once spoken they have an effect upon ourselves and others. They diminish the spirit of mourning; that is, compunction within the human heart. In doing so they distract us from the remembrance of God and the things of God. We must remember that God has given us a conscience, a means of knowing the truth with Him. This is what we must form through the gospel and through our participation in the life of Christ. We must also remember that the Evil One is the Father of Lies and will use a lie under the pretext of protecting others. In the face of this, St. John tells us, “when we are completely cleansed of lying, then we can resort to it, but only with fear and as occasion demands.” Only when the heart has been completely purified, where there is no love of falsehood and where there is the presence of great discernment, can such a decision be made. To love truth, St. John tells us, is the root of every good because it is to love Christ. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:25:04 Anthony Rago: I've also been thinking that our bodies and societies are parables of truth; and we can be lying by engaging in bad lifestyles.   00:37:35 Anthony Rago: I can imagine a confessor becoming very exasperated if we treat all this as confessable sins; and it would be very wearing on all of us.   00:39:28 David Swiderski: Like many other things isn't discernment take a place here. Is this so people will think I am funny (pride), will this hurt someone, will it erode trust (the cost of lies) or lead to a habit?   00:39:39 Anthony Rago: That makes sense, thanks   00:40:57 Cindy Moran: Corrie ten Boom  lied to the Nazis when they asked if jews were in the house. This is ok?   00:44:09 Ren Witter: I feel like this is a really hard one. Intellectually, I actually feel like it is easy to understand. Emotionally, it kind of feels like one of those instances where being Christian can feel like a “kill-joy” to put it in a light way. Maybe the immense anxiety I feel in response to this is coming from the fear that being a Christian means no joy or every-day happiness. Its weird because I know that that isn’t true, but sometimes it can be hard to reconcile the lived experience of Christianity with the things the Fathers write.   00:46:34 Debra: Replying to "Corrie ten Boom  lie..."   I've read a priest's response to this, is Yes, it's ok; because the Nazis didn't have a right to what's going on in their home That we have dignity, and a right to privacy   I'm interested to hear what Fr Abernethy says 😄   00:55:06 Anthony Rago: With humor - movies, comedy routines, Facebook - it is easy to go along, and then the story teller sneaks in covert of blatant evil things, and "bam," there they are in the head, coming to mind in an ambush when they are most unwelcome.   01:04:10 Daniel Allen: Ok so this may be making a little more sense to me. If the concern is with Truth, and Truth is a person, then we can have a tendency to come between Truth and another person (between the other and his remembrance of Truth Himself), which sort of reminds me of two parts of the Gospel - better to have a millstone tied around your neck and cast into the sea than to cause the fall of one of these little ones, and also, what God has joined let no man divide. Neither are traditionally applied to this type of thought, but if by our jesting, and always (or often) making light of things we can get between a person and his remembrance of God (or mourning), then in a way we are doing just that on a spiritual level, dividing the person from his remembrance of God. We can (generally unintentionally) get between God and another person, and generally to pump up our own ego. The lying part makes sense, it’s the joking that’s hard to get.   01:11:37 Jacqulyn: Proverbs 26:18-19 - Like a maniac shooting flaming arrows of death is one who deceives their neighbor and says, "I was only joking."   01:15:40 Debra: Cindy Moran, up above, asked about that very point   01:20:23 David Swiderski: The trap of whataboutism deflects from a general truth   01:23:09 Bonnie Lewis: So I will only be finally cleansed in Purgatory?   01:23:49 Debra: In vino veritas   01:24:08 Anthony Rago: Greek Text of this chapter is here: https://el.wikisource.org/wiki/%CE%9A%CE%BB%CE%AF%CE%BC%CE%B1%CE%BE/%CE%9B%CF%8C%CE%B3%CE%BF%CF%82_%CE%99%CE%92 I can barely read Greek and can't now locate the word "torture."   01:25:16 Ambrose Little, OP: About being jovial, I have a fondness for this part of St. Thomas Aquinas’ prayer “for ordering a life wisely” (notably the last three lines):   O Lord my God, make me           submissive without protest,           poor without discouragement,           chaste without regret,           patient without complaint,           humble without posturing,           cheerful without frivolity,           mature without gloom,           and quick-witted without flippancy.   Being dour and scolding is not good, neither is flippancy and frivolity. Cheerfulness is a good thing within measure.   01:25:32 Anthony Rago: "agoneia"   01:25:49 Debra: Reacted to "About being jovial, ..." with ❤️   01:25:50 Daniel Allen: I think one thing I take from this is that I often don’t consider the significance of my own words, and that words have greater significance than generally thought   01:26:08 carol nypaver: Reacted to "About being jovial, ..." with ❤️   01:26:09 Ashley Kaschl: Reacted to "About being jovial, …" with 🔥   01:26:25 Cath Lamb: Reacted to "I think one thing I ..." with ❤️   01:27:19 Anthony Rago: Reacted to "About being jovial..." with ❤️   01:27:21 Cath Lamb: Thank you!   01:27:27 Cindy Moran: Excellent session...thank you Father   01:27:30 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂   01:27:42 Art: Thank you!   01:27:55 Jeff O.: Thank you! Good to be with you all.   01:27:59 Bonnie Lewis: Prayers of course!   01:29:15 Bonnie Lewis: that's right because I received an email.  

In these hypotheses, we have been reflecting upon the practice of asceticism, especially in light of the relationship between an Elder and his disciple; that is, in relationship to obedience. We are shown in these stories the ABC’s of the ascetic life and in particular that of the virtue of obedience.    What does it mean to let go of private judgment? What does it mean to set aside one’s will even in small things in our day-to-day life? How do we train the mind and the heart in this virtue; so that when we are asked to pick up our cross or when we are reduced to raw endurance and cannot see the road ahead of us, we are able to respond in love?  We are shown in the stories that one must begin small. It is in letting go of our sensitivities in the small things, and allowing love to trump everything that this virtue takes root. It means being more attentive to the “other”, to what is asked of us and what people need, than to holding on to what we want, or what seems right or convenient to us.    There is part of us that shrinks back in a spirit of objection to what is being taught here. It seems unnatural to us. But what is really being asked of us or rather where we are being led to embrace is the supernatural. What we are being guided to is the perfect love and self emptying obedience that we see in Christ. We should have a similar desire to have obedience to God’s will as our very food.  We must see it as something that sustains and nourishes us mystically.    Not fulfilling the will of God or choosing the path of sin should become something that is abhorrent to us. Such lessons can be learned only with humility. Beyond this, we are shown the incredible responsibility of those who are elders. Their actions, their requests and demands of their disciples must be rooted in the desire for their salvation, and for their good. They will be held accountable as shepherds. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:06:17 David Fraley: Hello Mrs Abernethy!   00:08:28 FrDavid Abernethy: page 305   00:08:28 David Fraley: Hi Fr David!   00:08:35 FrDavid Abernethy: Hi Dave!!   00:14:32 Debra: Step 11...on talkativeness....was really convicting   00:14:51 FrDavid Abernethy: yes it was!!   00:15:10 Debra: Ooops...wrong meeting LOL   00:25:19 Rachel: Maybe he wanted to see if his disciple was stuoid.   00:25:37 Rachel: stupid. Sorry. I should not joke.   00:28:57 iPhone: Reacted to "Maybe he wanted to s…" with ❤️   00:29:19 Rachel: Yes, I doubt he was stupid nor did the elder think that.   00:30:07 Rachel: I wonder though, what would be all of our reactions to this reality in our everyday lives?   00:52:38 Anthony Rago: This has got to be specific to novices.  Saints (Elizabeth of Hungary?) are praised for charity against the wishes of the head of household   00:55:36 Anthony Rago: But if these people can't use discretion, they also can fall into legalism - oops I don't have permission, I can't act on my own.   00:58:32 Anthony Rago: The religious life then is horribly dangerous.   01:01:01 Anthony Rago: That indicates then that people cannot abandon their discretion, they have to withhold some obedience, so they can  judge the situation, whether it is healthy or crazy - or just not for them.   01:05:15 Anthony Rago: Yes, I've seen situations both of people in religious life and married life that were just psychologically off.   01:05:25 Ambrose Little, OP: He also says submit to each other.   01:08:30 Debra: I always suggest Chrysogonus   01:09:09 Debra: for a baby's name He could just be called Chrys   01:18:36 Rachel: Thank you all, Thank you Father   01:19:08 Rachel: :) lol  

Tonight we explored an often neglected aspect of the spiritual life; or one might better say an essential part of the spiritual life – Fasting. Throughout the spiritual tradition, we have heard the Saints tell us that “prayer without fasting is weak” or that “where there is no prayer and fasting there are demons.” With the coming of Christ, however, we see a unique and distinctive meaning of fasting emerge. It is not only a discipline to help order the appetites or a form of penitence. It is tied directly to Christ: what we see in His practice and in what He teaches us about it.  His own fasting is guided by the Holy Spirit in preparation for embracing the Father’s will, and His desire that it might be accomplished. Beyond this, Christ teaches us that our practice of fasting is forever tied to our desire for Him. He is the Heavenly Bridegroom and each soul the Bride. We see and experience in Him the One alone who can satisfy the deepest desires of the human heart. He is the Bread of Life.  The focus of our discussion this night was on recapturing not only the practice of fasting, but seeing it as something that is to be “loved”, precisely because it draws us to Christ. It is not a discipline but a path to draw nearer to the Beloved.   --- Text of chat during the group: 00:25:01 Stephen McCane: I have doing this “Exodus 90” and it is like a warm up to Lent.   00:25:51 Stephen McCane: For women it is called “Fiat 90”.   00:45:48 Adam Paige: Hi Father, should laypeople share their Lenten fasting plans with their spiritual director in the same way Saint Benedict instructs his monks to do with their spiritual father in his rule ?   01:14:51 Victoria: here is the book pdf: https://ia902908.us.archive.org/6/items/tolovefasting/To%20Love%20Fasting.pdf   01:15:41 Victoria: Free on Internet Archive :)   01:16:14 Adam Paige: Original version in French: https://folleautonomie.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/adalbert-de-Vogue-Aimer-Le-Jeune.pdf   01:21:00 Adam Paige: Reacted to "here is the book pdf…" with 👍   01:33:07 angelo: Reacted to "here is the book pdf..." with ❤️   01:33:20 angelo: Replying to "here is the book pdf..."   thank you   01:33:53 Matt Mondorff: I’ve found that our physical bodies don’t require much food, it’s mainly our mind and habits that convince us that we’re hungry. So to realize that and push through the initial hunger, knowing it’s coming but we’ll be ok has helped me a lot. Then, little by little it gets easier to go longer and longer. Eating healthy and moderately helps also…it seems to my anyway   01:47:52 Lori Hatala: you can saute in broth.   01:48:12 Fr. Michael Winn: A former monk of Mt. Athos once told me that in North America it would be inadvisable to stop all use of oil during the winter seasons - reduce, but do not eliminate.   01:57:15 Kathy: My experience of fasting is that it is a type of prayer in and of itself. 01:59:22 angelo: Thank you for that short clarification of the centering prayer and the danger of falling into delusion.   02:06:09 angelo: Thank you so much Fr.   02:06:29 Lori Hatala: thank you so much Father.   02:06:31 Stephen McCane: Thank you Father.   02:06:33 Ryan McMann: Thank you!   02:06:40 Monk Maximos: Thank you Father   02:07:18 kevin: thanks father that was great!!   02:07:21 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂   02:07:22 Fr. Michael Winn: Thanks, Father!   02:07:25 Rachel Pineda: Thank you father Abernethy!!   02:07:31 Siggy Evers: Thank you Fr.  

Tonight, we read Step number 11 on “talkativeness and silence.”  Fittingly, it is very brief, if not the briefest of all of the steps of The Ladder. This brevity is St. John’s way of teaching us that so much of our speech involves vainglory; putting ourselves on display. We seek through it to step out of ourselves; betraying the painful experience we have as human beings of our lack of identity.  God has created us for himself. He has created us in his image and likeness precisely that we might not experience ourselves in isolation, but rather in communion. However, to enter into communion with God means to step out of our limited ways of perceiving the world around us and reality as a whole. This means allowing God, through the silence, to draw us in faith into the experience of His life, light and love.  To give ourselves over to talkativeness is to find ourselves dissipated. Our desire for God cools and the emptiness that we feel drives us to fill our lives with anything and everything so that we do not feel alone. Despite having God dwelling within us, once we lose sight of him, silence becomes an enemy. Therefore, John tells us that we must foster silence as a habit. We must allow God to show us its value, and what it makes possible for us. The first step is to create external silence. Once we have done this, we often see the unsettledness of our minds and hearts. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:11:45 Cindy Moran: Is your patron saint Matthew?   00:15:18 John & Heather: Do you mind mentioning what edition this group uses?   00:15:54 Debra: I saw your post on FB about it   00:16:41 John & Heather: Replying to "Do you mind mentioni..."   Great...thank you.   00:16:43 Cindy Moran: I really liked Ren's presentation on the prayer rope   00:17:38 FrDavid Abernethy: Yes.  Excellent.  She makes the most exquisite prayer ropes as well.   00:17:51 FrDavid Abernethy: Maybe she will put up the website address.   00:27:32 Eric Ewanco: My translation says "foe of license" instead of "enemy of freedom of speech"   00:41:56 Bonnie Lewis: This is why adoration before the Blessed Sacrament is such a beautiful gift where silence is filled with God's love for us.   00:43:12 Vicki Nichols: Would this silence include silencing the "inner chatter" of your thoughts or is it only external silence?   00:53:28 Rebecca Thérèse: I've found that people who chatter continuously don't care if you're listening or not so I can zone out!   00:54:01 wayne: Reacted to "I've found that peop..." with 😂   00:55:21 iPhone: Amen   00:56:08 Ambrose Little, OP: Reacted to "I've found that peop..." with 😂   00:58:48 iPhone: Totally   00:59:06 Ambrose Little, OP: My in-laws feel that way about visiting here—the kiddos are a constant background buzzing. 🙂 You can get acclimated..   00:59:19 Eric Ewanco: How do we in the world balance silence with the cultivation of valuable relationships in life, for example at work or whatever? In other words, how do we discern the threshold of silence to maintain -- there is the absolute silence of a monk, and the rambling of the garroulous, where do we draw the line?   01:00:17 Debra: I wear hearing aids, but only if I'm going somewhere were I HAVE to listen...like Mass, or meetings As soon as I'm out of that meeting, I take out my aids, because the world is such a noisy place!!   01:00:54 Debra: Reacted to "My in-laws feel that..." with 😁   01:08:21 iPhone: + 1   01:12:20 Anthony Rago: Being someone who does work from home, and lives alone, the silence does not feel too great all the time.  Only the deep silence when in my workshop or working in my kitchen or dining room or times like that is satisfying.   01:12:49 Debra: So much ambient noise...Like you mentioned, noise does create anxiety I can literally feel tension leave, when I take my hearing aids out.   01:13:18 Debra: Reacted to "Being someone who do..." with 🤗   01:16:40 iPhone: Making a note of it   01:16:53 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂   01:17:48 Debra: Thanks be to God   Thank you! Good night!  

Obedience!  The root of the word is to hear or to listen. What emerges in reading the fathers is that our capacity to hear the word of God is rooted in our willingness to set aside our own willfulness, ego, and our private judgment. We often become obstinate and entrenched in our own view of things in such a way that we are no longer able to hear the advice or counsel of others. We are shown in this evening’s text that sometimes we must be left to our own devices to experience the poverty of our choices that are contrary to the will of God and His love.  What also emerges is that obedience is not rooted in law but love. Obedience is the fruit of a deep relationship with God, and with one’s spiritual elder. An elder must love his disciple, and recognize that he bears responsibility for his salvation and so must give him constant care. The disciple must reciprocate this love and respect. In doing so, he enables the elder to be a true shepherd and not a mere hireling. This mutual obedience elevates the entire church and allows it to make present the humble love of Christ crucified to the world. --- Text of chat during the group:  00:49:18 Anthony Rago: I may have heard that sentiment too   00:49:29 Ambrose Little, OP: It’s probably saying that he’s true enough to Scripture and expansive in his guidance to cover such a loss. But it’s just a hypothetical.   00:50:35 Ambrose Little, OP: Hyperbole, like when Jesus says to cut off the hand that causes us to sin. Exaggeration to make a point about the quality of his teaching.   00:52:01 Anthony Rago: How may we properly revere persons not exactly in communion with Catholics?  I LOVE the works of St. Gregory of Narek - but if Pope Francis had not made him a Doctor of the Church, I would have forced myself to be cautious.  I'd love to go wholehearted into Coptic Orthodox spirituality / theology, but how cautious should we be?   01:00:58 Ambrose Little, OP: Echoes what St. Ignatius of Antioch (disciple of St. John the Apostle) says of the faithful’s relationship with their bishop.   01:12:12 Ambrose Little, OP: There is an amazing genius in the story-based instruction of the Evergetinos. It really makes ideas stick in a memorable way.   01:14:17 Anthony Rago: I'm open to it   01:14:19 David Fraley: I’d be interested.   01:14:21 carol nypaver: Sure!   01:14:29 Paul Fifer: Me too.   01:14:54 John & Heather: Would be interested.  

This evening we continued and completed Step number 10 on “slander and calumny.”  Something very special emerges about John in the writing of this step. We see something very personal about John’s capacity to love and his purity of heart. He acknowledges his own struggle with judging others as sinners, when in reality they were pure of heart in secret. Thus, John’s repeated counsel is not to judge at all; even when we see things with a kind of clarity. We often have blind spots and dark spots in our evaluation of the others. Beyond this, the Evil One puts before us smoke, if you will, making us think that there is sin present where none exist.  All that we are allowed to do is to love others. This means that we always attribute their sin to the action of demons. We are to look for the good in others and look for ways that we can support and lift them up if they are struggling. This means setting aside the morbid delight that we take in judging and the feeling of emotional power that we think it gives us over and against them. We must acknowledge the radical solidarity that exist between us and foster a spirit of generosity towards each other. To seize for ourselves a prerogative that belongs only to God is ruinous to the soul. May God preserve us! --- Text of chat during the group: 00:23:24 Bridget McGinley: Father, sorry...little long....I just wanted to follow up from last week with a comment/question. I was not able to type this fast enough. It was in relation to what you were saying about being serious and stern in presenting the Faith. You mentioned about your early sermon and how it was perceived by the college kids. I used to be pretty sanguine. Life has taken it’s toll. I once heard Bishop Sheen say something that was pretty profound. He stated, “Christ had many emotions that were written about in the Bible but never did he smile or laugh.” Bishop Sheen stated that He is saving those for us in Heaven. Looking at Step 10 point 2 many people nowadays are pretty “shameless and very happy” and it is hard for me to find smiles and joy surrounded by the deluge. In tip-toeing around the obvious moral problems these days how does one escape mental slander which sometimes manifests as verbal slander? And how does one show a non-judgemental face?   00:37:37 iPhone: Anen Father   00:49:25 Rebecca Thérèse: Part of Leviticus 19 came into my mind in relation to not judging at all  15 You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor. 16 You shall not go around as a slanderer[a] among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood[b] of your neighbor: I am the Lord.   17 You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.   00:57:02 Anthony Rago: Since the Late Middle Ages, our culture has been both immoral and curious.  We want the knowledge of St. Thomas Aquinas' Summas, but we have not as eagerly gone to the other side of him, the one that made the Pange Lingua   00:57:39 Anthony Rago: We want knowledge for curiousity's sake, but not the humility of devotion   00:57:54 Ambrose Little, OP: Do you think the nature of social media has made this particular trap of the Devil more prevalent?   00:58:30 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: How great it would be to always be centered on noting the virtues it observes in others!   00:58:47 Ambrose Little, OP: Amen, Sister!   01:03:12 Bridget McGinley: As a nurse I can attest it is physically and mentally debilitating communicating. Many of my co workers talk about how they can't even talk after a shift. Verbal interaction is very challenging.   01:11:45 Ambrose Little, OP: About #12 and #15.. I recently learned of a few very vocal critics (including a former apologist) in the Church ending up leaving the Faith, either entirely or moving to a sect. It’s very sad. There is something in what St. John is saying they’re for sure—that this kind of behavior can be ruinous.   01:17:21 Cindy Moran: Thank you Father!   01:17:23 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂   01:18:23 Ren Witter: Philokalia.link/tolovefasting   01:18:41 carol nypaver: Time??  

Tonight we picked up with Hypothesis 34. Again we are introduced into the practice of asceticism; in particular, how it is embraced in the spirit of obedience. We were given multiple stories of individuals who, out of love for their elder, respond with an immediacy to their demand or request. In each case we are shown the deep fruit that this bears.  However, the greater task for us is to look at our lives and to see if we have prepared our hearts to receive the seed of our Lord‘s word as he calls us to the life of holiness. Do we respond with swiftness when called to prayer or with zeal when called to embrace the practice of fasting or urgency when called respond to someone in need or jeopardy?  What the stories show us is that obedience is based upon a relationship, not law. It is love that makes us run to respond to Christ and to those He has given to us to guide us along the path to Him. If our asceticism or obedience lacks this love, then it is something that is suspect. --- Text of chat during the group:  00:10:43 B David: hi all  Ben David here.  sort of new here...   00:10:55 FrDavid Abernethy: welcome Ben!   00:12:24 David Fraley: Hello Ben!   00:12:59 David Fraley: I did. I found a place in West View.   00:21:09 Bridget McGinley: St Hesychios in the Philokalia states “ a faithful servant is one who expresses his faith in Christ through obedience to His commandments.  Father, if one cannot find an “elder” can one be assured of the graces and gifts of obedience by simply following the commandments?   00:24:33 Bridget McGinley: thank you   00:33:13 Anthony Rago: This is in stark contrast with the pagans - example the fear in the Adventures of Ulysses, in the trip to Hades, land of the shades.   00:35:22 Anthony Rago: The Coptic Hymn to St George names him the conqueror of his tormentors   01:14:40 David Fraley: Thank you, Father!  

The subtle movements of the human heart and mind stand revealed while reading the Ladder of Divine Ascent. As one makes one’s way through the text, it becomes clear that it is an inevitability. We must stand ready to have our hearts illuminated and the places that we desire to keep in darkness, whether consciously or unconsciously, exposed. Yet, somehow, when these words come from the pen of a Saint, there is a healing that one begins to experience; even as we know the sting of the words. Knowing and seeing the truth lightens the mind and the heart and opens us to experience the grace and the mercy of God. By removing the impediments to the action of that grace, we find ourselves no longer running with a heavy tread under the burden and the weight of some hidden guilt or wound, but freely and swiftly moving towards He who is Love.  The jarring nature of John’s words is eventually overcome by the confidence in his desire, as well as God’s, to bring us healing. Such is the case with John’s description of the remembrance of wrongs. He makes it clear that without remedy, it can poison the heart and become dark spite. The more we nurture our anger, the more the heart becomes poisoned, and we eventually only see the faults of others.  To be free of this burden, he tells us, allows us to boldly ask our Savior for the release of our own sins.  John would have us show no hesitancy and experience no doubt about what coming to God brings us. If we do not attend to this wound, what is born from it is slander. This, he tells us, drains the blood of love and becomes the patron of a heavy and unclean heart. In our anger, we may diminish another through our words, but the consequence that has for ourselves is far greater. It is a coarse disease that only Christ and gazing upon Christ crucified can heal. --- Text of chat during the group:  00:07:24 Anthony Rago: Tractor Supply, too   00:08:15 Anthony Rago: time for an exorcism of the air....   00:09:39 FrDavid Abernethy: page 126 para 13   00:12:43 Cindy Moran: Oooo...Yes!   00:22:53 Anthony Rago: Then this would apply also to wrongs WE have done, too, that filter our His healing?   00:27:03 sue and mark: I have found that if I am struggling in this area..that if I ask God to forgive them for me...  it is easier  also to bring me to that place of forgiveness that he desires   00:32:12 Anthony Rago: This is what I have a hard time understanding: sin, mortal and venial, which is emphasized so much in the admonishion if frequent confessions....so much emphasis on me, me, me.   00:35:42 Anthony Rago: How often is good?   00:39:56 Anthony Rago: Thank you   00:55:41 Rebecca Thérèse: I'm still puzzled as to the difference between spite and dark spite   00:57:43 Cindy Moran: Who is the author of the book you mentioned last week "Orthodox Psychotherapy"?   00:57:44 Ambrose Little, OP: Maybe something like.. If you harbor it secretly in the “darkness” of your inner self. You don’t allow it to be brought into the Light, examined for what it is, and see that it is wrong and needs to be eliminated.   00:57:59 carol: Dark definition includes “angry, threatening, arising from evil, sinister”   00:58:38 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you all   01:01:16 Ambrose Little, OP: “Speaking the truth in love” is one of the most abused phrases.   01:03:23 Anthony Rago: Chastity covers up, it is modest.  Unchastity is an unholy exposure.   01:11:29 Rachel: LOL   01:11:49 Anthony Rago: I think you're right.  More St. Francis is needed, less "vert few will be saved."   01:13:08 Lee Graham: The river of life flowing out of us   01:14:37 Rachel: ouch   01:15:45 Rachel: Thank you   01:15:47 Jeff O.: Thank you!   01:15:56 Devansh Shukla: Thank you   01:15:57 Rachel: YES!!   01:16:08 Bernadette Truta: Yes please!   01:16:09 Art: Thank you good night.  Yes I’m interested in the Zoom group on fasting.   01:16:10 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you 🙂   01:16:10 Ambrose Little, OP: Yes   01:16:12 Deb Dayton: Is this in person?   01:16:13 sue and mark: yes   01:16:16 Jacqulyn: Yes... I am interested!   01:16:19 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: when?  

Reading the fathers deeply is unsettling. It strikes against every sensibility that we have and calls into question our perception of reality itself. In this sense, their writings are meant to illuminate the gospels for us and allow them to challenge us. So often we become lukewarm simply because things have become familiar and comfortable to us. We lose sight of the fact that in the face of Christ’s teaching individuals tore their garments and repeatedly wanted to put him to his death and eventually did accomplish this.  What does reading the gospel or the fathers give rise to within our hearts and consciences? The stories about obedience in this hypothesis are startling; we can hardly imagine ourselves enduring such things for a moment, let alone seeing them as something that are a means to freeing us from self-will and from the ego. What is it that we love? What stirs our hearts to their greatest desire? What are we willing to die for? Is Christ our Beloved or merely the construction of our minds and imaginations to make us feel safe in this world? --- Text of chat during the group: 00:21:29 Paul Fifer: This paragraph sounds a lot like the Russian movie named “The Island”.   00:21:58 Anthony Rago: Reminds me of "Ostrov / Island" in which the foolish monk tends the coal furnace for 30 or so years   00:22:30 Charbel: A fantastic film, I get some folks together to watch it at the beginning of the Fast every year.   00:24:03 carol nypaver: Profound film!  I need to watch it again.   00:24:38 Ambrose Little, OP: Much like having small children. 🙂   00:25:52 Anthony Rago: Culturally, in Sicily, my family had livestock on the ground floor.  Same with Padre Pio's family.  Living quarters were upstairs.  Maybe the monk lived in a downstairs "barn" and the others lived on the floor(s) above.   00:27:54 Deb Dayton: Reacted to "Much like having sma..." with 😂   00:28:00 carol nypaver: Very interesting, Anthony.  Thank you for the insight.   00:39:16 Charbel: Apologies for ducking out. I'm taking an extra shift at the shelter and may have to step away from time to time as folks come into my office.   00:39:22 Joyce and Jim Walsh: Story of the Monk reminds me  of the indignities suffered by St. FAUSTINA as noted in her Diary.   00:51:40 Anthony Rago: But if we are in the image of God, I see a tension.  One the one hand, there is the parable of the unworthy servants doing only what is expected of you.  But on the other hand, you are made in the image of God, and I would thing, there is room for some sense of ego and satisfaction.  Not smugness, but joy and satisfaction.   00:53:52 iPhone: Amen Father   01:04:05 iPhone: Really Powerful Message.   01:13:14 Denise T. : This is probably really worldly of me, but if you allow someone to hurt you unjustly or lie about you or anything else that is deliberately inflicted by another without saying anything, will that be good for them. There seems a sense of justice is lost. Not saying anything.    01:20:05 Denise T. : Thank  you, Father.   01:20:16 carol nypaver: Do those who inflict the “punishment” on us,  also become more saintly even if their intent is NOT that we become more patient, humble, etc.? Especially if they are not our “elders”? If we become holier for what we endure at their hands, do they also grow in holiness if we endure patiently?   01:21:27 Sharon: Thank you

There are certain moments while reading the fathers when one trembles. The truth expressed is so vivid and pierces so deeply that the experience of it is visceral. One is shaken.  This is not easy to endure, and perhaps there are moments when reading such texts becomes a stumbling block for our minds and our hearts. However, when they speak the truth of Christ and when they reveal the depth of love that we are called to in Him, ultimately these words are healing. The fathers, in so many ways, are spiritual physicians. Their words cut like a scalpel and cut deeply. But they cut out the “rot” as John describes it. The remembrance of wrongs, which is the offspring of anger, is not something that we can remove on our own. Untreated it spreads like a cancer. The fact, John tells us it has no offspring because it poisons the soul so completely that it makes us incapable of love.  May God give us the grace to listen with humility and gratitude. We are given such loving fathers who desire nothing but our healing. When we begin to trust that, then their words become as bright and illuminating as the sun. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:03:54 FrDavid Abernethy: Page 125 Step number 9   00:20:29 Anthony: Another kind of remembering wrongs is to trod the path of bad example someone has set...examples, hearing cursing, and then carrying on that "tradition" instead of cutting it off; or doing violence because someone else did violence to you (a chain of abuse).   00:22:58 Eric Ewanco: My translation titles this section "On Malice" (with a translation note that also offers "remembrance of wrongs). Your translation refers to "hourly malice" (mine says "rancor by the hour"). Can you elaborate on the relationship between malice and remembrance of wrongs?   00:24:12 Ashley Kaschl: Could a victim mentality be tied to the “pleasureless feeling cherished in the sweetness of bitterness” part?   00:24:26 Bonnie Lewis: So I shouldn't be troubled that I can relate so deeply to this step?   00:27:16 iPhone: Whoa.  Amen Father   00:28:30 Anthony: Healing.  In Divine Comedy, Dante is washed in a river of forgetfulness when passing from Purgatory to Heaven, so he can forget all memory of sin.   00:31:35 iPhone: +1   00:48:05 iPhone: Love these Sessions Father !   00:48:53 Daniel Allen: The internet, for a million different reasons, is dangerous… not reading the fathers.   00:50:52 carol: How does one speak freely in the context of therapy or spiritual direction while also avoiding the remembrance of wrongs?   00:55:37 Charbel & Justin: Demons are fundamentally chaotic.   01:05:47 Anthony: Remember that the demons make suckers and schlubs out of all of us.  It makes it easier to have compassion on another.   01:07:09 iPhone: Amen   01:08:37 Bonnie Lewis: true   01:08:47 iPhone: Love that   01:10:37 iPhone: Much work to do in this regard.   01:12:17 Ashley Kaschl: This entire section reminds me of a quote by St. John of the Cross: “Whenever anything disagreeable happens to you, remember Christ crucified and be silent.”   01:12:25 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂   01:12:26 Bonnie Lewis: This step is excellent Father.  Much to ponder.   01:12:43 Debra: Reacted to "This entire section ..." with ❤️   01:12:44 iPhone: Amen Father.  Tremendous !   01:13:39 Jeff O.: Amen, thank you Father. Great to be with you all.