Philokalia Ministries

In their discussion of the struggle with the passions and in particular those associated with the bodily appetites and what we experienced through the senses, the fathers do not neglect to show us the effect that our thoughts and our lack of watchfulness can have upon the unconscious. Certain images and ideas will emerge from our dreams and often take on a form that can be agitating or of a subject matter that is disturbing spiritually. The fathers want us to understand that we are not morally culpable for what arises during the night in our dreams nor can the Evil One directly influence what happens because of our dreams such as nocturnal emissions. Yet, are not to ruminate upon the meaning or the content of these dreams during the day. To do so is to open ourselves “daydreaming”, where we openly allow ourselves to think about images thoughts and ideas that came to mind during the night. Such rumination then can be a source of temptation for us. It is best to set such thoughts aside and focus on fostering temperance and love. As long as we are focused upon God then what arises out of the unconscious will eventually be healed as well. However, if we are slothful or worse prideful we become more subject to the effects of such a dreams or their frequency will become more prominent in our life because of our lack of spiritual discipline. In Hypothesis XXXII, our attention is drawn toward the work of contrition. Saint Gregory tells us that contrition manifest itself in many forms of spiritual beauty. This is striking if only because of the negative connotation that the word contrition sometimes holds. Saint Gregory tells us that ultimately it is a path to beauty, goodness and love. When a soul first seeks after God at the outset it feels contrition out of fear. It is humbled by the depths of its poverty and how contrary this is to that which is good and to our essential dignity. Tears begin to flow and as they do the soul begins to develop a certain courage in the spiritual life and is warmed by a desire for heavenly joy. The soul which shortly before wept from the fear that it might be condemned, eventually weeps bitterly simply because of how far it perceives itself from the kingdom of heaven. As the soul is cleansed, however, it clearly beholds before it what the choirs of angels are and the splendor that belongs to these blessed spirits. Ultimately, the soul begins to behold the vision of God himself. One then weeps for joy as it waits to experience this vision in its fullness. When perfect contrition emerges then the soul’s thirst for God is satiated; tears now turning in to the living waters of the kingdom. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:11:02 Lorraine Green: Fr., can you take a Mass request?  Where would we send that is so?  And the stipend? 00:11:33 Suzanne Romano: Reacted to I've got a (pet) rab... with "😄" 00:14:00 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 238 # A 00:21:21 Anthony: This is also an exercise of faith....if a person is hunted by fear of filth, and filth separates us from God, the fathers recommend the exercise of faith and ignoring false feelings of filth. 00:23:37 Forrest Cavalier: Reacted to "This is also an exer..." with ❤️ 00:23:41 Andrew Adams: Reacted to "This is also an exer..." with ❤️ 00:25:25 Suzanne Romano: St. Alphonsus recommends, for holy purity, three Hail Marys before sleep and three upon waking. 00:26:06 Suzanne Romano: TV opens up the portals of the passions. 00:27:32 Catherine Opie: There is nothing more enjoyable to do with kids than to read a book aloud. 00:28:06 Sheila Applegate: Quitting can feel like a drug addiction. It can release the neurotransmitter dopamine and it is so craveable. 00:28:50 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "Quitting can feel li..." with 👍🏻 00:28:57 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "St. Alphonsus recomm..." with ❤️ 00:29:01 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "This is also an exer..." with 🙏🏻 00:29:02 Marias iphone 14: Reacted to "There is nothing mor…" with ❤️ 00:29:33 Bob Čihák, AZ: We gave up TV easily. After we drove 2 cars from WA to AZ and had my laptop brick and the AC in one car break, 7 years ago, we haven't yet bother to get a TV. 00:36:19 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "We gave up TV easily..." with 🤓 00:37:28 Anthony: Fyi....even common technology works against us. I have a program on my new cell phone that I don't know how to get off, and when I swipe to use my phone, I'm getting pornography and other ads that is the first thing I see. 00:38:05 Suzanne Romano: I think porn rewires the brain. 00:40:02 Wayne: Have heard one author say that men who have this issue  want to stop but seem powerless to stop the addiction 00:40:29 Myles Davidson: The book “Your Brain On Porn: Internet Pornography and the Emerging Science of Addiction” looks at the science behind the rewiring process 00:42:17 Suzanne Romano: There's a spiritual warfare aspect to the addiction. 00:43:51 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "There's a spiritual ..." with 👍🏻 00:53:08 Catherine Opie: Replying to "Fyi....even common t..." Is it a google app for news and advertising? I had that on my new phone. You can go to your apps and remove it. It will usually have some kind of media logo on it. So you can see what app it is. Also you can change the settings on your screen, it may just be a simple case of turning off the advertising notifications 01:06:12 Lindsey Funair: Maybe hardest part for me in recognizing the beauty and wanting of the divine is how it folds back on the weak spirit in the form of idolatry and covetousness of that which is so supremely beautiful simply because it reflects God's Love. 01:06:15 Anthony: Reacted to Is it a google app f... with "👍" 01:08:23 Forrest Cavalier: Life-giving repentance is in today's readings. “God has then granted life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too.” Acts 11:18 from today's mass readings (western church.) 01:10:20 Anthony: You also have to love yourself "through" feelings of deficiency, and convince yourself "God hates nothing He has made." 01:17:58 Andrew Adams: Thanks be to God! Thank you, Father! 01:18:01 Sr. Mary Clare: thank you! 01:18:04 Lindsey Funair: thank you 01:18:04 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂 01:18:07 Suzanne Romano: Pax!! 01:18:07 Marias iphone 14: Thank you 01:18:14 Catherine Opie: Deo Gratias Fr. Thank you and may God bless you 01:18:15 Troy Amaro: Thank You Father 01:18:27 Sr. Charista Maria: Thank you Fr. :)

Life in Christ is not an abstraction and the gospel is not simply a set of teachings or an ideology. It is clarion call to “Follow Me” from He who is the Lord of life and love. We are invited to participate in the mystery of Divine Life. Just as the fathers  tell us that we are to “become prayer” and not simply engage in a discipline, likewise, we must become Christ. We must put on Him mind and our hearts must be animated by His Spirit of love.  It is for this reason that Saint Isaac the Syrian places desire at the heart of the spiritual life. There is one path that lies ahead for us – we are to long for Christ and for the life of the kingdom. Anything else is reductive; shrinking the faith down to what is manageable and acceptable to our sensibilities and understanding. It is no longer faith but a simulation or as Christ would say “hypocrisy“.  The reality that Saint Isaac places before us is the need for the healing of the soul; afflicted by sin, we are dominated by the passion. Yet because we are made in the image and likeness of God we often unknowingly reach out to grasp what is greater than ourselves while neglecting purity of heart and the need for God‘s grace and mercy. Such a path only leads to greater darkness. Sin unaddressed, like illness undiagnosed only grows worse. We must seek the healing that comes through participation in the Paschal Mystery; that is, a dying and rising to new life in Christ. We must die to sin and self in order to have the purity of heart and the depth of faith that allows us to comprehend what is beyond the senses and reason.  Central to Saint Isaac’s thought is the purification of the Nous, the eye of the soul. If neglected one simply becomes blind to the presence of God and his love. The words of Christ come to mind in this regard: “the eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is  bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” To neglect such a reality is like the man who shamelessly entered into the wedding feast with unclean garments. We seek to enter into the fullness of life and love while yet immersed in the mire of our sin and clinging to the things of the world. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:13:13 susan: wish I could be there  I am a piano teacher  lol 00:13:20 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 123, paragraph 11 00:27:04 Myles Davidson: Father, a week or so ago you mentioned private revelation, many of which seem to also fit into this category (ie. fantasies of the mind). There are a plethora of so-called seers around today, many of which have been shown to be fakes. How do the Orthodox deal with this phenomena? I’ve heard they have a policy of keeping private revelations as just that… private. What are your thoughts on this? 00:28:12 Anthony: If Christ on the criss is the Bridegroom,  then I can see a person who has desired impure thoughts is running to be like the Bridegroom but is not "ready" to be married. Although, the Gospel does tell us to take up the cross and follow Christ,  without reference to one's state of mind or holiness. 00:37:36 Ren Witter: In my notes from the last time we did Isaac, you said that this teaching is not harsh, but practical. Sin being understood as a sickness, a person who has not yet been purified through praxis simply would not have the strength to take up the cross in such a way as to ascend to theoria. Sounds a lot like the teaching on taking up fasting beyond your strength - you’ll just end up worse off than you were before. 00:44:14 Joshua Sander: My apologies if you've already covered this or if Isaac is about to get to this and I'm getting ahead of him, but how does one discern that one's own "senses have found rest from their infirmity" and that he or she is ready for theoria, especially given that temptations and struggles against sin will always be with us while we are in the flesh? 00:47:00 Nypaver Clan: What page are we on? 00:47:07 Ren Witter: 124 00:53:46 Anthony: I suspect a lot of us seekers are like St Teresa d'Avila who suffer much from bad advice until we run into clearer presentations of faith, hope and love. 00:54:15 Catherine Opie: Replying to "I suspect a lot of u..." Definitely my path 🤣 00:54:24 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "I suspect a lot of u..." with ❤️ 00:54:52 Myles Davidson: add 😁 00:57:23 Myles Davidson: Christ as anchor "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure."  Hebrews 6:19 00:58:28 Ren Witter: The building where this happened was Pitt’s public health building, which is still nicknamed “Our Lady of Public Health” 00:59:11 Wayne: Reacted to "The building where t..." with 😂 00:59:21 Ben: Reacted to "The building where t..." with 🤢 00:59:21 Max Horcher: Reacted to "The building where..." with 😂 01:00:17 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "The building where t..." with 🤣 01:00:45 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "Christ as anchor "We..." with 🙏🏻 01:01:11 Bob Čihák, AZ: Reacted to "Christ as anchor "We..." with 🙏🏻 01:01:32 Suzanne Romano: Hell on earth! 😆 01:02:07 Ben: Replying to "Hell on earth! 😆" Health on earth?... 01:06:16 Myles Davidson: 22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" Matt 6:22-23 01:06:21 Elizabeth Richards’s iPhone: Replying to "Hell on earth! 😆" ““The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭22‬-‭23‬ ‭ESV‬‬ https://bible.com/bible/59/mat.6.22-23.ESV 01:06:23 Nypaver Clan: Matthew 6:23 01:12:35 Myles Davidson: Is the word used here “watching” the same as the Greek word ‘nepsis’? (A concept I’ve found very helpful!) 01:12:57 Anthony: Ok, this is where philosophy fails, for in philosophy I only recall being taught about "a priori" knowledge and "a posteriori" knowledge.  Isaac is in a different dimension altogether. 01:15:02 Myles Davidson: Reacted to "Ok, this is where ph..." with 👍 01:15:18 Alex Underwood: Reacted to "Ok, this is where ph..." with 👍 01:17:25 Ben: Replying to "Is the word used her..." Thanks for pointing that out...I had been understanding "watching" as "vigils"...but I guess in that case it would have just said "vigils". 😆 01:17:59 John Cruz: Come and see…. 01:18:13 Ben: Reacted to "Come and see…." with 👍 01:19:53 Myles Davidson: Replying to "Is the word used her..." Could be both… good point 🙂 01:21:22 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You Blessing 01:21:30 Maureen Cunningham: Yay 01:21:48 Bob Čihák, AZ: Thank you Father. You'll never retire. 01:22:19 Andrew Adams: Thanks be to God! Thank you, Father! 01:22:21 Elizabeth Richards’s iPhone: And with your spirit 01:22:21 Catherine Opie: Thank you Fr. very "enlightening" discussion as always, God bless have a wonderful week 01:22:23 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂 01:22:28 Jeffrey Ott: Thank you Father! 01:22:29 Suzanne Romano: Pax!! 01:22:40 David: Thank you Father! 01:22:41 Kevin Burke: Thank you father!

A deep dive into the fathers' view that desire is the heart of spiritual life. They probe how inner longing shapes behavior and how projection hides the real battle within. Monastic practices, silence, and formation are discussed as ways to ignite and guard longing for God. They also examine sensory dangers, civility, and prudence in relationships.

The experience of reading Saint Isaac the Syrian is something like being caught up in a vortex; not a linear explanation of the spiritual life or spiritual practices, but rather being drawn by the Holy Spirit that blows wherever It wills. It is not as though Isaac’s thought lacks cohesiveness, but rather he presents the life of faith and life in Christ to us as an artist painting with broad strokes. This is especially true in the first six homilies that speak of the discipline of virtue. Isaac seems to be more concerned about our breathing the same air as the Saints. He wants us to be swept up by our desire for God and in our gratitude for His love and mercy. Our life is not simply following a series of teachings or a moral code, but rather embodying very life of Christ. We are to love and console others as we have been loved and consoled by the Lord. If our spiritual disciplines do not remove the impediments to our capacity to be loved and to love others, then they are sorely lacking.  In every way, our lives should be a reflection of Christ and the manner that we walk along the path of our lives should be reflective of His mindset and desire. In other words, we should desire to do the will of God and to love Him above all things, including our own lives. We are to die to self and sin and have a willingness to trust in the Providence of God that leads our hearts to desire to take up the cross daily and follow him. We begin to see affliction as something that not only shapes are virtue and deepens our faith, but that is a participation in the reality of redemption. We are drawn into something that is Divine and Saint Isaac would not have us make it something common. The Cross will always be a stumbling block when gazed upon or experienced on a purely natural level. But for those who have faith, we begin to see and experience the sweetness of God’s love and intimacy with him precisely through affliction. Isaac would have us know that joy in all of its fullness. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:10:51 Catherine Opie: Hi there, where are we in the text? 00:12:03 Lori Hatala: pg 122 Cover a sinner... 00:13:10 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "pg 122 Cover a sinne..." with 🙏🏻 00:13:53 Fr. Miron Kerul-Kmec Jr.: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064674224441 00:14:25 mstef: What's the best place to buy the text for Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian? 00:14:55 Fr. Miron Kerul-Kmec Jr.: Replying to "What's the best plac..." https://www.bostonmonks.com/product_info.php/products_id/635/?srsltid=AfmBOop3vDmjuAXUXQSy7YsihYlEpKvTek3MiYqFazzowWu9fREOmiK3 00:16:24 Thomas: I think he is 44 00:17:52 Suzanne Romano: Charbelle 00:19:03 Una: Reacted to "Charbelle" with 👍 00:20:37 Ben: Replying to "What's the best plac..." Found mine used on Abebooks.com...had study notes, so price was right! 00:22:07 Fr. Miron Kerul-Kmec Jr.: Reacted to "Found mine used on A..." with ❤️ 00:29:15 Suzanne Romano: Cover a sinner as long as he does not harm you. How do we define harm? Is a person's obstinate refusal of the truth the kind of suffering we can relieve? Or can dealing with an obstinate person open our heart up to harm?   00:35:56 Kate : Is there a difference between how the Eastern Church understands sainthood vs the Western Church?  In the Latin Rite you hear the term “heroic virtue” but it seems the Eastern understanding is more “Christ living within.” 00:38:18 Sr. Mary Clare: Reacted to "Is there a differenc..." with 👍 00:38:57 Sr. Mary Clare: That's a good question, Kate. 00:39:43 Anthony: It's important to avoid self-loathing in failure to pursue good things, but commend all things to God's disposition. 00:45:40 Maureen Cunningham: Thank you so true , 00:46:55 David: It is easy to pray for deliverance or in thanksgiving but it seems as you draw closer it seems the only honest prayer becomes- Lord teach me your way I trust in you. 00:51:51 Ben: When Father's elected Pope...bye-bye, pews. 👍 00:52:11 Myles Davidson: Reacted to "When Father's electe..." with 😊 00:52:44 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "It's important to av..." with ❤️ 00:52:46 Thomas: When he says to help the sinners in the first part how much are we supposed to do, because at some point wouldn’t you encroach on spiritual father type of stuff 00:53:02 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "It is easy to pray f..." with ❤️ 00:53:09 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "When Father's electe..." with 🤣 00:54:05 Una: With my long-term fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue (severe) I simply could not keep up with Orthodox services, especially Holy Week. And the fasting. I was glad to come back to the Western rite and more relaxing fasting. God bless those who can do it. 00:54:48 Sr. Mary Clare: Unfortunately, covid became an excuse not to return to Mass. This has become a very sad situation. Watching the Liturgy online has become the norm. No doubt, this was a tactic of the evil one. 00:55:20 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "Unfortunately, covid..." with 👍🏻 00:55:35 Eleana: I have seen more participation AFTER covid. 00:55:47 Jamie Hickman: This is how the TLM is in my experience. Yes, there are rushed low Masses out there, but my decades experience of Sunday Sung Mass is minimum 90 minutes, but usually closer to 2. The 10:30 in my area ends between 12:20-12:30 weekly. In Tampa this year, Easter Vigil began at 7 PM and ended around 12:30 AM...and the pastor actually began speaking some of the prayers in English that are permitted so to save some time. 00:56:07 Myles Davidson: Reacted to "This is how the TLM ..." with 👍 00:56:30 Ben: Replying to "I have seen more par..." Trad. parishes *exploded* with growth, it's true. God brings good out of evil. 00:56:41 Catherine Opie: Interesting that 00:57:00 Myles Davidson: Replying to "This is how the TLM ..." The Extraordinary Form is just that… extraordinary! 00:57:53 Myles Davidson: Reacted to "Trad. parishes *expl..." with 👍 00:58:55 David: In my parish we are filled with millennials and Gen Z even daily mass it is amazing I hope they stay. Before daily mass was just me and a few older people now almost every pew is full. But my parish is very traditional and lots of silence in mass. Covid might have been an momentary issue but now at least where I am I am shocked to see sunday service flow into the atrium and people holding open the doors outside during feasts. 00:58:59 Catherine Opie: Sorry, pressed enter before ready, I find it interesting that existing Catholics might be doing that, avoiding going to mass in person by watching on line, while for converts like myself lockdowns drove me into the arms of Catholicism, and adult conversions doubled this year on last year. 00:59:31 Sr. Mary Clare: Reacted to "Sorry, pressed enter..." with ❤️ 01:00:09 Sr. Mary Clare: Reacted to "In my parish we are ..." with ❤️ 01:01:40 Una: Thank you. Very encouraging. 01:06:51 Catherine Opie: I see the physical pain that intensifies when at mass, praying etc as the level of my resistance to sit with God. I offer it up for the souls in purgatory and breathe through it. As well as having to suffer the perfume other people wear!!!!! 01:06:54 Suzanne Romano: Guadalupe 01:06:54 Anthony: Guadeloupe was 1500s 01:06:58 Ben: Guadalupe was 1531 - Aztecs 01:08:12 Myles Davidson: Replying to "I see the physical p..." Perfumes = penance! 01:09:04 Ben: Reacted to "Perfumes = penance!" with 😲 01:11:32 David: Guadalupe did convert more Christians in the shortest period of time in history after decades of little success in the Americas. My son was baptized in the first stone font when we lived in Mexico,  the next year moved to a museum in Tlaxcala. The first Christians were other communities and the aztecas a minority in the territory were hold outs till Guadalupe. 01:16:57 Ben: Asceticism in the beginning of the spiritual life is basic to the Fathers, but today it's often treated as something for those who are already saints, with no reference to purity of heart. 01:19:05 Eleana: Reacted to "Guadalupe did conv..." with 😮 01:19:35 Lee Graham: Please explain the soul,s incentive parr 01:19:48 Lee Graham: Incentive 01:19:48 Anthony: Asceticism with little prayer and desire sounds similar to Jansenism 01:20:23 Ben: Right - we need all that. 01:23:11 Ben: It's a deep paragraph for 8:38pm 01:23:15 Sr. Mary Clare: What you have been saying is beautiful! 01:23:16 David: Why with all the ministries and works, committee's, Bingo, fundraisers isn't there more spiritual direction and an ER for the the spiritually sick. What I like most about the desert fathers is they identify the error and give a solution or solutions. I am dismayed by the latin approach to dealing with any of the evil thoughts. 01:23:20 Naina: Amen 🙏 Thank you Father 🙏✝️🤍 01:23:57 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂 01:24:02 Elizabeth Richards: Peace to you 01:24:02 Catherine Opie: God bless Fr. 01:24:10 Francisco Ingham: God bless you Fr.! 01:24:11 David: Thank you father may God bless you and your mother.

A study of extreme ascetic practices and the strange lengths early fathers took to pursue God. Conversations about dining, fasting, and avoiding occasions of sin. Reflections on formation, clerical discipline, and protecting youth from spiritual harm. Practical guidance on prayer rhythms, removing attachments, and cultivating a thirst for God.

Gratitude is placing ourselves into the hands of God, trusting in His providence and allowing Him to guide us where He wills (without asking us for permission or our understanding His purpose). It is like having a bucket of cold water dumped over our heads. We are suddenly awakened and our whole being is set on edge.  We realize in the words of Saint Isaac the Syrian that gratitude and faith are often not what we imagine or want them to be. To show gratitude to He who is crucified Love means that we embrace that Love in our lives, are driven by the same desires as Christ, and willing to bear affliction patiently and with joy.  In the Scriptures, we hear the surprising words: “He was made perfect by what he suffered“. We see the perfection of love and the mercy of the kingdom most fully when Christ allows himself to be broken and poured out on the cross. Life allows himself to be swallowed up by death.  From the perspective of human understanding, it seems to be absurdity and failure. Despite our acknowledgment and the celebration of the resurrection of Christ - trampling death by death, so that those in the tombs might be granted life, we do not want this reality to shape our experience of life in the world. Saint Isaac is not presenting us with anything different from the gospel and yet our almost infinite capacity for rationalization makes us avoid affliction at every cost and become resentful when we find it ever present in our lives.  The kingdom of heaven is within. Salvation is now. The life that we are called to live and the love that we are to embody has been freely given to us. Not to embrace this life and love, not to allow it to shape the very essence of our lives is the height of ingratitude. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:01:11 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 120 01:10:34 Catherine Opie: I think that we have been indoctrinated into only being grateful when things go the way we want, I read a story about St Dominic that he took great pains to build a church on a hill. When it was finally complete the local king demanded it be torn down stone by stone until nothing was left. St Dominic upon finding this out declared joyously "Praise the Lord!". This really struck me deeply because it is so the antithesis of the attitude I was brought up in where we bemoan and curse God for misfortune and only are grateful when we get what we want. Or we see relationship with God only as a place to demand what we want. 01:10:56 Kathleen: Tall order. Very difficult. 01:11:35 Maureen Cunningham: Wow it hard but many rewards . That we can not see 01:11:36 Kathleen: It’s a decision one makes with complete awareness of the situation at hand 01:11:47 Rebecca Thérèse: Sometimes there's no option but to suffer. Uniting one's suffering to the redemptive suffering of Christ gives it purpose. 01:12:36 Art iPhone: Reacted to "I think that we have…" with 👌 01:13:48 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "Sometimes there's no..." with ❤️ 01:15:03 David: I don't remember who said it but " It is only in suffering we know we have faith and grow". When everything is easy or pleasurable there is always doubt if this is the ego or faith and virtue. 01:15:28 Elizabeth Richards: We so want to create meaning & give purpose to our suffering (make sense of it), but Isaac seems to be showing that entering into suffering is entering into Christ. 01:17:25 Joseph: The heart of asceticism is stripping away the palpable, to open up space for the noetic 01:18:38 Kathleen: Yes 01:18:48 Ren Witter: ALS 01:19:03 Kathleen: Yes 01:19:28 Kathleen: Yes 01:19:50 Kathleen: Thank you!!!! 01:20:03 Maureen Cunningham: Thank you Father 01:20:04 Julie: Thankyou 01:20:47 Andrew Adams: Thanks be to God! Thank you, Father! 01:20:52 Catherine Opie: 🙏🏻❤️ Thank you 01:20:54 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you, happy Easter everyone🙂 01:20:56 Matt S: Thank you! 01:20:57 David: Thanks father! 01:20:57 Jeffrey Ott: Thank you! 01:21:08 Andrew Adams: Thanks everyone. Great comments tonight!

A thoughtful look at the Desert Fathers' struggle to balance intense spiritual discipline with human affection. Conversations about watchfulness, the dangers of projecting temptation, and how every good thing can be twisted into a pretext for sin. Reflections on monastic solitude, guarded speech, and avoiding fanatic extremes while preserving virtue and healthy relationships.

After having spoken to us about the importance of being filled with wonder at the love and mercy of God revealed to us in Christ and desiring him above all things, Saint Isaac immediately stresses that what is born from the heart must be real and concrete. It is one thing for us to use beautiful words to speak about Christ and the faith. It is another to embody the love and compassion of Christ so vitally that our actions and words transmit virtue to others. In other words, for our actions to be life-giving, they must be rooted in the experience of the living God. Otherwise, our wisdom becomes a “deposit of disgrace”. Whereas righteous activity born of the love of Christ and the experience of his mercy becomes a “treasury of hope”. How do we engage the world around us and those in it except by embodying He who is reality, love and truth. Our temporal life passes so quickly and Isaac tells us that if we love it then our way of life is defiled or we have been deprived of knowledge. He writes: “the fear of death distresses a man with a guilty conscience, but the man with a good witness within himself longs for death as for life.“  If Christ is the center of our life then we will have no fear or anxiety. The only thing that we take out of this world is our vice or virtue. Everything passes away like a dream disappearing in the morning. All that we have received is pure gift; coming to us through baptism and faith where we are called by the Lord - called by name - to enter into his life and to love as he loved. Indeed it is an interesting thing that Isaac begins his Ascetical Homilies by emphasizing wonder, desire, urgent longing and God‘s desire for us as well how freely He has given us everything that is good. Isaac set us upon a path that helps us keep our focus upon God and God alone. All of our spiritual disciplines must serve to help us love and give ourselves in love or they are hollow. Likewise, all that we receive must be responded to with gratitude. There is only one thing that keeps us from experiencing the richness of God’s grace and mercy. It is our failure to turn towards him through a lack of trust or appreciation for His generosity. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:08:47 Catherine Opie: Apologies I missed last weeks zoom due to being offline. What page are we on today? 00:10:29 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 118 paragraph 34 00:19:12 Catherine Opie: Things move slower down here in Australasia 🤣 00:24:50 David: I find this part so beautiful my grandmother was an artist near Lake Superior and painted in water colors I spent my summers with her and while I love her paintings I remember more the scenes , smell of the wildflowers and of course being next to her. The painting is but a pale reflection. So to with talking about love but feeling that from my family/mentors special people illuminates long after the time has past. 00:29:18 David: In the end I found Christ seeing him in my grandparents and others not the years of studying, reading the Summa. He was there next to me living through them. 00:46:06 Ren Witter: Don’t worry Father, I’ll throw myself on your grave and weep ;-) 00:46:50 paul g.: Reacted to "Don’t worry Father, …" with 😇 00:47:25 Tracey Fredman: Sometimes we find ourselves in a position ... I have thoughts! I pray for everyone's prayers - don't know how to raise my hand on the phone! lol 00:47:51 Tracey Fredman: Reacted to Don’t worry Father, ... with "😇" 00:48:13 Tracey Fredman: I can unmute 00:49:23 Tracey Fredman: (or not , lol) 00:49:36 David: I nice thing to do is to take a picture and send it to them SMS. Someone did this for me and it is really comforting in bad times to see a candle lit, a thought shared etc. 00:51:53 David: We enter this life and leave the same way - no teeth, no hair and in diapers what is important is what we share in-between was a saying from my Grandfather. 00:54:46 Bob Čihák, AZ: I've given up saying, "I can't wait to be a burden to my children." too much static. 00:57:01 David: Reacted to "I've given up saying..." with 😂 01:00:09 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: HIs advice here would also apply to those who carry trauma memories. 01:01:39 David: When my Mom was in hospice at home dying I was also raising my sons alone and commuting to Chicago (4hrs driving). I had a lot of anxiety and listed to relevant radio on the way back. Father Simon said the only honest prayer is not asking for things but - God teach me your ways. When I started doing this most of the anxiety and frustration went away. I guess letting go of pride? 01:02:23 Bob Čihák, AZ: Reacted to "When my Mom was in h..." with 👍 01:03:02 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "When my Mom was in h..." with ❤️ 01:03:14 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "We enter this life a..." with ❤️ 01:03:45 Anthony: A problem is that these very remedies - Bible, sacraments, real theology - have been distorted and abused and therefore look ugly and repulsive.  That blockage needs to be overcome 01:03:58 Bob Čihák, AZ: My favorite is "Thy will be done." So much so that we're planning it for our gravestone. 01:05:16 David: Reacted to "A problem is that th..." with 👍 01:05:21 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "My favorite is "Thy ..." with 🤣 01:17:39 Ryan N: Father, How does one who struggles with giving gratitude arrive to such state. Is it left to the grace of God? Do we ask God for the grace to be grateful? 01:19:45 Naina: Thank you Father 🙏✝️❤️ 01:20:30 Andrew Adams: Thanks be to God! Thank you, Father! 01:20:30 Jeffrey Ott: Thank you! 01:20:42 Catherine Opie: Thank you Fr, I will pray for you.  

A thoughtful look at how to read the desert Fathers with discernment and prayer. Discussion of the desert as a spiritual laboratory where extremes and disorders arose. Warnings about asceticism becoming a psychological defense and the risks of repression. Reflections on formation, vocation timing, and the church’s mixed relationship with modern psychology. Practical reading tips and pastoral concerns about mixed company and spiritual contagion.

Saint Isaac the Syrian begins his teaching with a gentle reminder that liberation from material things, that is, our attachment to the things of this world and placing them above God, is a slow process that involves great toil. Yet, this is the common order of things. In our journey, we often have to break loose of the mooring of those things that prevent us from loving. And so Isaac teaches us that righteous activity involves comprehending what God has revealed to us and then embodying it through action - praxis. Even as we make gains our memory of past sins and failures often brings grief to the soul. We shouldn’t be discouraged by this, St. Isaac tells us, but we must simply allow these recollections to lead us to greater repentance and gratitude for God‘s mercy. Yet all of this is but a prelude to Isaac asking us an important question: Do you desire to commune with God by perceiving the love and the mercy that He reveals not just with the mind or the senses but through faith and experience?  Do you desire God? Do you desire Love? If our answer to this question is “yes” then Isaac tells us we must pursue mercy: “For when something that is like unto God is found in you, then that holy beauty is depicted by Him.“ We begin to see and comprehend the mercy and love of God by loving as he loves; by going beyond the limitations and the confines of our own understanding.  Such spiritual unity once unsealed incessantly blazes in the heart with ardent longing. The soul‘s divine vision, Isaac tells us, unites one to God and the heart becomes awestruck; filled with wonder at what no eye has seen or mind could imagine outside of the grace of God. The path to divine love first begins by showing compassion in some proportion to the Father’s perfection. As Christ tells us, “Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect, be merciful as your Heavenly Father is merciful“ The dignity and destiny that is ours, the life and love into which God draws us should be what we pursue the most in life. To desire God, to give free reign to an urgent longing for Him brings about our transformation. Desire is our path to the Kingdom within. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:15:08 Callie Eisenbrandt: I’ll take your books Father!! 😂 00:16:21 Bob Čihák, AZ: P 117 paragraph 26 starting "Liberation from...." 00:20:11 Eleana: I want Icons😁 00:30:39 Sr. Charista Maria: Amen Father. So very true. We so often fall so short of such communion with the indwelling presence of the Holy Trinity. Most don't realize the profound grace of our Baptism. 00:30:43 Anthony: This is interesting.....in Italian, a translation of "lust" is "desire."  Lust (the sin) must be misplaced desire. 00:31:53 Paisios: There's a phenomenal article by Cormac Jones about converting desire being the most important thing in the Christian spiritual life 00:31:55 Paisios: https://cormacjones.substack.com/p/converting-desire 00:33:38 Sr Mary Clare: Reacted to "https://cormacjones...." with 👍 00:34:19 Anthony: Reacted to There's a phenomenal... with "👍" 00:34:25 Anthony: Reacted to https://cormacjones.... with "👍" 00:36:16 Jamie Hickman: Replying to "This is interestin..." concupiscence...think concupiscible appetite. we tend to think of it only in the negative (evil, sinful), but as you say: it is not in itself bad 00:41:56 Anthony: Too much asceticism leads to resentment 00:45:00 Nypaver Clan: Father, How do we balance Mercy with the Judgement of God?  Is it possible to rely too much on God’s Mercy? 00:50:05 Paisios: I once read, "God's judgement is mercy" 00:52:37 Maureen Cunningham: W hat about abusive act 00:55:43 Sr Mary Clare: There are many out there who constantly say, "Don't judge!. when a person may just be speaking about sins that hurt the heart of Jesus Christ. It is a constant cry of those who seemingly have problems with church teachings and the ten commandments. 00:59:45 Jamie Hickman: I might have missed it: to whom is Isaac intending homily? Was this preached in a church during Divine Liturgy? Looking for context and audience. 01:02:08 Anthony: Leaving their boats and family was leaving freedom and security of having your place where you belong. 01:02:20 Jamie Hickman: thank you, Father 01:02:37 Anthony: Also they left economic power 01:02:52 Sr. Charista Maria: There's a video called The Third Way, which is so beautifully done, that may reflect what you are saying here Father regarding love. Letting Love inspire in all things. The first way is Judging, the second is compromising, the third is Christ's way it seems. 01:04:42 Sr. Charista Maria: It is testimonies of some who were in the homosexual lifestyle, but then were drawn by love to the truth. 01:05:49 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: The intensity of man's thirst for God determines his spiritual progress. Longing for God stands above all ascesis. Man's desire constitutes the small human part, which man offers to God, and God then adds to it the great part of His grace. It is essential to constantly rekindle our desire, and this should be the main concern of our life. God gave the same commandments to all, so if God's gifts are more abundant in some, this means that their thirst for God is greater and they renew their desire day after day. Spiritual thirst brings the whole heart of man to the source Christ, as He Himself said, 'Where your heart is there shall your treasure be also." Respecting man's freedom, however, God responds to man according to his longing, as Saint Silouan writes: ‘The Lord has love for all men but His love is greater for the one who seeks Him.' If we expect the Lord's visitation with all our heart, then, of a surety, we will attract the living waters of His grace. 01:06:28 Lee Graham: Life with Christ must be “experiential”, 01:08:22 Sr. Charista Maria: There's a video called The Third Way, which is so beautifully done, that may reflect what you are saying here Father regarding love. Letting Love inspire in all things. The first way is Judging, the second is compromising, the third is Christ's way it seems. It is testimonies of some who were in the homosexual lifestyle, but then were drawn by love to the truth. 01:12:05 Kathleen: HAHA 01:12:45 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You Father 01:12:53 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂 01:13:10 Maureen Cunningham: Yes 01:13:20 Lee Graham: Yes! 01:13:25 David: Thank you father! 01:13:26 Sr Mary Clare: Thank you