Philokalia Ministries

The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter IV: On Obedience, Part VIII

We continued our reading of Step 4 from the Ladder of Divine Ascent on Obedience and the spirit with which it is practiced. What one begins to see in the writings of the Fathers is that obedience is not slavishness that destroys the personality or the will of the other. It arises out of a relationship; first and foremost the relationship between the Father and the Son that brought about our salvation; wherein Christ through the Spirit of love became obedient even unto death on the cross. Obedience within this world and obedience to one’s spiritual father is rooted in a similar relationship of mutual love. Spiritual father and son must be well disposed to each other in order that what is given and what is received is done so in love. Only then will bear fruit and only then will it bring a kind of invincible joy. To live in obedience is to find freedom; freedom from fear and anxiety, freedom from the darkness that sin brings to us.  Through obedience we always have someone to guide us back to the narrow way, one who shows us the light that allows us to move forward. Let us pray through Saint John Climacus that God would cultivate this great virtue within our hearts.  --- Text of chat during the group:  00:07:47 FrDavid Abernethy: page 83, para 45   00:28:54 Daniel Allen: The blog “Glory to God for all things” had a great article on this titled “saving knowledge and blessed ignorance”. What we don’t know can be more important than what we know, and what we know is much less than we like to think.   00:31:02 Anthony: On one hand, I think he's right.  On the other hand, does one have a responsibility to try and share specialized knowledge for guidance to a perceived good or guidance away from a bad thing - but with discretion in how you propose the idea?   00:41:54 Rachel: That is extremely rare but so very beautiful.   00:47:26 Bridget McGinley: How does one reconcile in practice the advice in the Psalms and other Biblical verses like “ It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man” with the virtue of obedience and trust in a confessor/elder? Especially if there have been grave misunderstandings in the past.   00:56:52 Daniel Allen: St. Ambrose to St. Monica: ““God’s time will come,” the bishop reassured her, but she was so persistent he finally urged, “Go now, I beg you. It is not possible that the son of so many tears should perish.””   00:57:49 Debra: ❤️   01:04:25 Rachel: lol   01:08:31 Ambrose Little: depends on who the sub is   01:08:41 Debra: 😁   01:11:38 Ren Witter: This is so true! Even in my dreams, I find myself asking: what would my spiritual father think of this or that behavior? It becomes such a deeply established way of thinking. Its really beautiful, and a blessing. Another reason that the habit of exposing one's thoughts to a Father is so good - knowing that you will tell him everything, you become more careful with what you allow yourself to do. Such wise advice 01:13:23 Debra: So my biggest take away is of spiritual maturity...but does that maturity come *from* obedience; or does the obedience need to come first to gain that spiritual maturity   Like the monk that was willing to accept years of penance...that would take spiritual maturity...but if he had that, he wouldn't have needed the penance...or am I missing something?   01:13:58 Debra: Yes, exactly   01:14:00 Debra: lol   01:14:42 Ambrose Little: Wise words from Bob: "baby steps"   01:16:18 Debra: Thank you that's a deeper take away   01:18:25 Babington (or Babi): Hope to contribute someday. Thank you very much. God bless you all. 🙏🏼🤍   01:20:29 Bonnie Lewis: Thank you so much for all that you do Ren!   01:21:07 Ambrose Little: the "non-recluse” lol that's awesome   01:21:19 Ren Witter: Yes!! I just saw that. Hahah. Amazing   01:21:38 Br Theophan the non-recluse: It’s been the most consistent joke since my investiture last weekend🤣   01:22:09 Carol Nypaver: Hooray!   01:22:31 Sheila Applegate: Congratulations!   01:22:46 Rachel: Bro Theophan is in Cali? Yay =)   01:23:21 Br Theophan the non-recluse: 2.5 hours north of San Fran!   01:23:23 CMoran: Thank you Father!   01:23:27 Rachel: Thank you!   01:23:30 Debra: Thank you!   01:23:31 Rachel: Sacramento here   01:23:33 Ashley Kaschl: Thank you, Father!   01:23:39 Bonnie Lewis: Bye all!   01:23:41 Rachel: Goodnoght Father!  

The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XXIII, Part II

We continued to listen to the Father‘s counsel on avoiding relationships or circumstances that can bring us spiritual harm. Such thought is not guided by a lack of love or charity or hospitality; rather it is rooted in an understanding that we are first to love the Lord our God with all of our mind, soul, heart, and strength. It is only having our love ordered and directed toward Him that our love of the things and and people within the world can be rightly ordered. We were given one example after another of how necessary it is to discern when relationships are drawing us away from God or the ways that the devil can use us through our negligence to harm others spiritually. We don’t engage in the spiritual battle in a state of isolation. Nor do we seek to live the life of virtue simply for ourselves. Love demands that we be attentive to loving God above all things in order that we might draw all toward Christ.  Such simplicity and clarity in the way that one views the world and oneself, creates the purity of heart that is necessary to discern the path and the will of God. --- Text of chat during the group:  00:29:57 Anthony: This is how I learned there was something wrong with some Catholic commentators.  They left me agitated about the legal aspect of the Faith....am I searching myself well enough, did I do this good enough? etc.  Jansenism   00:30:31 Anthony: on the church   00:30:37 Anthony: correcting the Novus ordo   00:30:42 Anthony: noveau telogie   00:32:36 Emma C: Where do we see the line between judging others vs judging their actions to know who to avoid?   00:35:42 Kevin Clay: I think we need to see that we can be that “foolish and thoughtless friend” to ourselves and not just others. We can be unwise, greedy, quarrelsome, arrogant, etc. We need to separate ourselves from our passions and the things that stir the passions.   00:44:37 Rachel: I was wondering about what you just mentioned. About being detached from ego. I was told recently to " Be at peace." in relation to something I did not realize was a distraction. At first, it made me wonder and uncomfortable. Since if I am not at peace, then something of what I spoke of must not be of God. It reminded me instantly of what a holy and wise priest told me. He said, not to speculate over matters. and it was clear, that the only thing needed was to stay in the moment with Our Lord.   00:45:35 Rachel: That these distractions are a result of idle distractions,no matter how good they appear. That God will take care of each moment and situation in His good Providence.   00:50:27 Debra: St. Bonaventure has a beautiful post-Communion prayer   https://tinyurl.com/4de5cj7z   00:50:54 Anthony: Thinking of just yourself and God:  In "A Man for All Seasons," St. Thomas More tries to break Richard Rich from avarice by telling him of the honor he would have as a mere teacher before God as his audience.  Had Richard Rich followed this advice, he would have avoided his moral downfall later on, and maybe even in his saving his soul, much of England would have been spared some of the violence of the 1500s. "Acquire a spirit of peace and thousands around you will be saved." ~ St. Seraphim of Sarov   00:58:18 carolnypaver: If he had just said “no” the people would have wondered if the “brigand” would have been released IF ONLY the Elder had asked.  The Elder removed all doubt.   01:03:03 Rachel: I left a comment above about something you addressed. It seems his current reading ties into the discipline it takes to be detached not only from the things of this world but from oneself as well. Since our nous can be darkened, idle curiosities and distractions can wreak havoc in one's own life and those around them. Since the person given to these distractions will act from that skewed vision instead of the pure place of ordering everything to God and His good will alone   01:18:14 Rachel: You mentioned that purity in our day will be like the martyrs, because of the way the world is..in a beautiful homily our priest once gave, he mentioned St. Catherine of Siena. How she felt desperately that our Lord had left her in grave temptations. Yetm he reassured her that not only had he not left her but that she was more pleasing to him.   01:18:40 Rachel: So, it seems that fighting to stay with our Lord wont always feel rosy.   01:19:15 Ambrose Little: Advertising is not like in the old days. Moby Dick was a 900 page advert for the whaling industry. 😄   01:19:19 Anthony: The images themselves are very important in a post-rational environment when the senses and memory are wounded.  The Serbian Orthodox Church on YouTube has a 7 part series on the Icon and the contrast of iconic images versus the images that assault us.   01:20:04 Rachel: Thatis a wonderful series   01:22:08 Ren Witter: paypal.me/philokaliaministries   01:23:52 Bridget McGinley: Thank you REn   01:24:41 Daniel Swinington: thank you   01:24:47 Rachel: Thank you!   01:24:48 Ashley Kaschl: Thank you, Father! (And Ren 😎)  

The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter IV: On Obedience, Part VII

Reading the Fathers takes us to the very heart of the gospel and in doing so they pull us out of our comfort zone. Obedience is the true path to freedom. But freedom comes at a cost and perfect freedom comes through self-sacrificing love. It is cruciform. All that we were presented with this evening made it very clear that our life is to be a deep immersion in the Paschal Mystery; that is, a profound dying and rising. We are dying to self and sin and rising to new life in Christ. This is the path to salvation and St. John tells us that to turned away from the obedience of Christ, to turn away from the mortification of reason,  judgment and self-will, is to turn away from the Love that has saved us. Every time we receive the Holy Eucharist we say, “Amen”, so be it. We say, “Let this be the reality in my life. Let me be conformed to Christ in self- emptying and obedient love. To hold on to our will, to hold on to our self-centeredness makes it impossible for us both to receive and give love. May God open our eyes that we may see the truth of this and follow the way that Christ has set before us. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:06:40 FrDavid Abernethy: page 82 paragraph 39   00:13:01 FrDavid Abernethy: page 82   00:16:04 Fr. Miron Jr.: no   00:31:35 renwitter: I really appreciate that he mentions the manual labor even in this small paragraph about the prison. Helpful to remember that during a time of repentance - of fasting and deep prayer - the Fathers themselves recommended some kind of small work to help the heart along, and allow the stillness to come. Making prayer ropes works great too ;-)   00:32:27 Debra: And you make beautiful prayer ropes

The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XXII, Part V and Hypothesis XXIII, Part I

Reading the Fathers often pierces the heart and changes our perspective upon life and our perception of reality itself. We continued with our reading of the fathers’ exhortation not to engage those who can bring harm to us in the spiritual life. This is often troublesome to modern sensibilities. The call to evangelize draws us out to engage the world. But what are we to give if we simply allow ourselves to be drawn back into the slavery of sin? We have to radically abandon our lives to Christ, conform our minds and hearts to His, and seek to live in obedience to His Will before we can bear witness to others. It is often said you cannot give what you do not have and the Fathers understood this in the fullest measure. We are capable of living a life of religion on the surface; of becoming comfortable with mediocrity and a religion of our own creation. Sometimes we do reduce our faith to a psychological construct and in this sense the modern critique of religion is on point. We have to be ever discerning of the deep attachment that we have to sin, to the things that lead to sin.  We must not live under the illusion that we are impervious to the power of the passions or temptation. We must be discerning, discriminating, in regards to everything that we experience within this world to determine whether or not it is from God. St Paul once said “we take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.”This could be said of every relationship, every circumstance, we experience within this world. All things must be brought into the full light of the Truth.   ---   Text of chat during the group:   00:05:15 FrDavid Abernethy: page 195 letter K   00:30:07 Bridget McGinley: St Cyril of Alexandria wrote "Every creature loves his kind therefore those with vices like those with similar vices". I feel like this means we must know our vices well so that we know who we will be attracted to and could be stumbling blocks. "Holy peace is not found here" he added.  Yes, Facebook is very dangerous and social media is very dangerous. I need to take this advice seriously.   00:34:21 Anthony: I just realized, the evil eye - mal'occhio - is about envy.  It's a serious thing, for both Christians and pagans.   00:35:27 Carol: Envy is a spirit of hades. It battles unceasingly against righteousness and God...envy never stops, the spirit of hades envies all men for all things... elder Thaddeus.   00:41:32 Bridget McGinley: Crushing pressure to be inside the "wokeness"   00:42:07 Eric Williams: In 1931, Monsignor Fulton J. Sheen wrote the following essay:   “America, it is said, is suffering from intolerance-it is not. It is suffering from tolerance. Tolerance of right and wrong, truth and error, virtue and evil, Christ and chaos. Our country is not nearly so overrun with the bigoted as it is overrun with the broadminded.”   “Tolerance is an attitude of reasoned patience toward evil … a forbearance that restrains us from showing anger or inflicting punishment. Tolerance applies only to persons … never to truth. Tolerance applies to the erring, intolerance to the error … Architects are as intolerant about sand as foundations for skyscrapers as doctors are intolerant about germs in the laboratory.   Tolerance does not apply to truth or principles. About these things we must be intolerant, and for this kind of intolerance, so much needed to rouse us from sentimental gush, I make a plea. Intolerance of this kind is the foundation of all stability.”   00:43:48 Carol Nypaver: Amen!  Venerable Archbishop Fulton John Sheen, pray for us!   00:54:05 Carol: it seems like this is a common message in the church as you said, and even the confessional   01:01:05 Anthony: Trauma reminds me of the story about the alcoholic monk who became alcoholic after seeing his village massacred when he was a child.   01:01:58 Paul Grazal: +1 On The Eight Vices manuscript Father.  Thank You.   01:20:13 sue and mark: it is good to wrestle with it   01:21:08 Emma C: When we are told to turn away from people who are stumbling blocks for us in the spiritual life, how do we evangelize others if we turn away from everyone who isn't helping us grow spiritually?   01:24:14 Rachel: Thank you!  

The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter IV: On Obedience, Part VI

Such a beautiful image is presented to us of the life obedience in a few paragraphs. St. John finds himself wrapped in conversation with one of the elderly fathers. He is asked if he has embraced the life that God has made possible for him. The Holy Spirit has descended upon him with the dew of purity, not unlike that of the blessed Virgin Mary, and the Most High has overshadowed him with patience, the very patience of Christ.  This is the grace that has been given to us all. Thus St. John is asked by the elder if his life is reflective of that reality. Has he bound himself with a towel of obedience, making himself the slave and the servant of the members of his community, willing to embrace every self- abasement? Does he guard his heart strictly and restrain the mind through the ascetical life and by humbling the body? In the midst of all of his work does he maintain stillness of heart? Does he curb his tongue that rages to leap into arguments and unceasingly wrestle with this tyrant? Does he fix his mind to the image of obedience and humility on the Cross, allowing it to shape how he embraces mockery, abuse, and ridicule? Has he cast off his will as though it is a garment of shame? Does he still his mind or let it become overly busy with the concerns of the things of the world? Is he willing to drink derision at every hour in order to protect charity? Is it more valuable for him to preserve love and unity with his brothers than it is to be treated with respect and kindness? Saint John is moved by the old monks exhortation and so gives true honor to blessed obedience.  Do we in our day-to-day life experience the fruit of true obedience, especially when it comes to our worship of God? Are we able to collect all of our thoughts and desires, every movement of the mind and the soul and summon them to cry out to God “O come, let us worship and fall down before Christ, our king and our God.”True obedience leads to true freedom. It gives us the capacity to love and give ourselves in love without impediment.   ---   Text of chat during the group:   00:12:01 FrDavid Abernethy: page 79: “Again about the steward”   00:14:16 Bonnie Lewis: Hi Father!  It’s still in the 100’s in San Antonio   00:18:48 Mark Cummings: Is that a kalimavkion?   00:26:16 Rachel: LOL!!   00:37:36 Anthony: So does "I think therefore I am" actually open us up to a world of hurt, drowning in speculation and fanciful thoughts, making us prey to demons if we take it as a life or cultural motto?   00:48:06 Rachel: Can you speak about applying this teaching where one's work environment, and the people one works with do not share the same goal or, at least do not act like it? I am thinking of a situation like Blessed Paul Parazzo.   00:48:25 Bridget McGinley: Oh that is a hard saying "curb your tongue" when you work predominately with females. True sacrifice to hold the tongue and not let one's face show emotion.   00:48:41 Rachel: yes!   00:50:49 Rachel: will send a good link   00:51:05 Liz: Sorry, which movie?   00:51:17 iPad (10)maureen: Man Of God   00:51:18 Carol Nypaver: Man of God   00:51:23 Kevin Clay: https://vimeo.com/675624334   00:51:28 Liz: Thank you : )!   00:51:41 iPad (10)maureen: Good luck finding a movie   00:51:49 Kevin Clay: That link is the full movie on Vimeo   00:52:12 Kevin Clay: Free   00:52:18 Edward Kleinguetl: Almost every platform and the DVD is also available.   00:52:22 Liz: Oh wow, great!   00:52:42 Edward Kleinguetl: The icon behind me is St. Nektarios of Aegina.   00:53:32 Rachel: https://youtu.be/1Y9bro7fmyU   00:55:11 Liz: Thanks for sharing!   01:07:22 Bridget McGinley: I am reading the Rule of the Benedictine Oblate. So many of these rules are discussed and explained in there also. It is so beautiful how caring all the disciplines were. There is such a profound love behind them when one knows the theology behind it.   01:10:42 Rachel: St Seraphim of Serov!?   01:12:13 Art: It was in the article: https://pemptousia.com/2016/06/prayer-for-beginners/   01:15:19 Anthony: His words are literally part of the Trisagion prayer prior to Liturgy.  I wonder if the call to bow before Christ our King and God was incorporated because of the importance of this book in spirituality.   01:17:41 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: Most folks pray like Puritans - no movement ever~!   01:18:34 Rachel: Thank you Father   01:18:40 CMoran: Thank you so much, Father!  

The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XXII, Part IV

We continued along the central theme of Hypothesis 22 and those that follow - we are to avoid entering into the things of the world and so lose what is most life-giving.  The monk becomes a very powerful example of this danger because in his response to God’s call he leaves everything within the world in order to be wholly given over to God; to trust fully in God’s providence, to pray without ceasing and to embrace a life of modification.  It is to embrace the angelic life. In contrast to fallen angels, these men set aside all that is worldly in order to be fixed in mind and body completely on the Kingdom. Their whole life becomes a sacrifice of praise.  To move away from this, becoming immersed once again in the things of this world is to become like a corpse. If one turns away from the source of life and salvation and turns to that which does not endure, then he himself will be reduced to nothing - to ashes. To understand this we have to have the faith to see the love and the life that God has given us in His Son. We must be able to see how precious it is; that it is the pearl of great price that we should be willing to sacrifice all to possess.  Anything less, any different vision of life immediately opens the door for us to seek fulfillment and hope in the things of this world. If we do not value God above all things then we will misdirect that desire which is at the very heart of our being. When this happens we cease to be human beings.  We lose sight of our own dignity and the dignity of others. We will become like salt that has lost its saltness, as Jesus describes, and that has no worth. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:11:28 FrDavid Abernethy: page 192,   00:35:07 Daniel Allen: Is there a difference between conversing with people and conversing with “worldly” people in this? Specifically, I think of saints meeting with many people every day to give them counsel or just to listen to them? Saints such as St. Seraphim of Sarov or (fictional) the monk Zosimov from the Brothers Karamasov? Is it that they purified their hearts and attained to true humility before then speaking with people? Or again is it that the issue is speaking with people about trivial or frivolous things that dissipate the monk?   00:36:34 Edward Kleinguetl: Those who become spiritual fathers do not seek to become one. Many spend many years (25+) in prayer and solitude before they may be requested to be a spiritual father and confessor.   00:37:24 Edward Kleinguetl: They are well versed in Sacred Scriptures and the writings of the Holy Fathers.  They do not share their own opinion. All advice is grounded in Scriptures and the Fathers.   00:45:27 Anthony: On the motions within the heart and relating to other people in wise or unwise interactions.  I think we have a mix of ignorance and vice in the interior life that lead us astray.  Imagine that your life is like a garden. You planted pepper seeds, but you have never seen pepper seedlings.  And, a wild animal enters in and sheds weed seeds and you don't realize it.  So, when the seedlings come up, you are not exactly sure what is a pepper and what is not. Sometimes you only gradually come to awareness on what is a good plant and a good fruit and what is not.  You look at pictures or have an experienced friend to teach you about the garden.  And that year, you miss the mark on a good garden, you get some fruit but not optimal.  But, you get experience for the next growing season, if you pay attention and learn from your mistakes.  Keep trying, and being patient and prune and weed as you realize you need to. :-)   00:57:36 Bridget McGinley: I think that news came out from the Pope and YES much needed !   00:58:16 Anthony: Friendship can be like alcohol.  Very valuable, but at the right times and in the right quantities.  We can misuse friendship to drown out our real needs.   01:03:10 Fr. Miron Kerul-Kmec Jr.: Met. Anthony Bloom - churchianity vs Christianity   01:03:15 Kevin Clay: Churchianity vs. Christianity by Met. Anthony Bloom   01:05:26 Rachel: This reading reminds me of St. Christina the Astonishing. Apparently the stench of the people in the church woke her from a coma so serious she was put into a coffin and the community was attending her funeral. And I think od St. Catherine of Sienna being able to smell the stench of sin in some...this always makes me wonder if I stinketh to others and if so, what can I do to have my prayers rise as incense.. :/   01:08:06 Carol: white washed tombs   01:12:42 carolnypaver: How do we NOT become “corpses” when we totally withdraw from the people in our lives? Don’t we become “dead” to them? Is that good for their souls?   01:18:03 Daniel Allen: Is it fair to take this one step further and say that the monk or Christian who follows this advice or path, then becomes salt to others who have no salt and become a means of salvation for those around us? A broader and larger connectedness, where the strengthening of one part aids the weaker parts of the body. A call to be salt to the world, and that one isn’t simply seeking a personal salvation but that one would seek to acquire this salt from God for the sake of others as well?   01:18:23 Rachel: Once, on the way to Mass, I ran into a homeless person who was thirsty. The young man was in a wheel chair, and when I tried to approach him, he begged me not to approach him. There was a very strong and unpleasant odor coming from him. I approached anyway and he told me, please, not to touch him or come closer as his legs were being eaten away by maggots. He lifted his gown and it is true, he was being eaten alive. I asked him why, if he wanted to go to the hospital and he declined. Said he had just been kicked out of the hospital. So I asked him if he wants a priest. I will get a priest. He said yes, to pray and he allowed me to give him my scapular as I thought he was close to death by the smell. He wold not allow me to put the scapular on but promised he would. I went to Mass which had already begun. I stopped the first priest I know, and told him what had happened. Asked him to please go see him immediately. He pulled back and told me that priest so and so deals with things like that. While   01:20:13 Rachel: While I cannot judge the priest, this, is an exactly  example of letting the moment pass by when we, when I, am called to do something that our Lord asks.   01:20:29 Bridget McGinley: Love the story Rachel thanks for sharing   01:21:22 Rachel: When I went back to check on him, the young man was gone.   01:25:17 Miron Kerul Kmec: Thank you!   01:25:29 Jack: thanks father whats the hat called  

The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter IV: On Obedience, Part V

We continued our discussion of Step 4 on Obedience. As deeply challenging as St John’s teachings are and as jarring as the examples of monks being tested can be, a light begins to shine through to the dark places of our minds that resist allowing ourselves to be conformed to the obedience of Christ.  Obedience as well as Love is cruciform. It involves a dying to self, self-will, and vanity in order that true meekness, love, and freedom might emerge.  The trials that the monks endured were not something meant to break down their personality or to crush them and throw them into despair. Rather, their shepherd, in imitation of Christ, sought only to purify their hearts and perfect their virtue. They entered into the monastic life with a clear understanding of its asceticism. It is distinctively Christian. All that they do, every aspect of their life is meant to direct them to Christ and conform them to His image; to let His love bloom within their hearts.  It turns out that the truest and straightest path to freedom is obedience. Our confidence in this reality comes not from our own understanding but from what we see in Christ himself.  By being obedient to His Father in love salvation comes to the world. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:08:31 FrDavid Abernethy: page 76 para 27   00:09:45 FrDavid Abernethy: about time   00:29:32 Carol: do you see any parallels to this outside of the monastery?   00:35:44 Anthony: Religious persons with office of shepherd who act unjustly, without really caring for souls but being subject to vices, spreads poison to anyone who experienced them, damaging trust for the person to offer in future.  Willingness to obey must then carefully be built up - by the person whose trust was damaged.   00:36:25 Art: Just a comment: This calls to mind the soldier attached to country, Corps, comrades, who is prepared to accomplish the mission, even a suicide mission, at the price of his blood.  Death before dishonor is a common saying.   00:38:21 Anthony: of compegne   00:44:11 Ren: This teaching is initially very difficult to handle - that is, the idea of someone who is good and fruitful being dishonored for the sake of virtue and, ultimately, for the sake of Christ. However, I believe this is similiar to what you often say about asceticism (how it is accepted in every area of life but the spiritual): Purification by dishonor/humbling is something we accept when it comes to sports, the military, education, elite level performance/fine arts, etc… and in these areas we accept that the dishonor shown to the aspirant is given in order to refine, test, and perfect their dedication and love. The exact same thing is happening here, as Climacus says “A soul attached to the shepherd with love and faith for Christ’s sake.” In the end, that is the only goal of the monk - union with Christ.   00:53:14 Carol: Hebrews 12:6  And this all speaks to the love and providence of God, and the way we are called to respond to suffering.   00:54:40 Ashley Kaschl: I agree with Father. I think we cheapen something when we make it easy to obtain. Two quotes come to mind:   “Do not claim to have acquired virtue unless you have suffered affliction, for without affliction virtue has not been tested.” -St. Mark the Ascetic   “Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty. I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.” -Teddy Roosevelt   00:56:13 Debra: Thanks for sharing those, Ashley   01:00:57 Babington (or Babi): I haven’t understood the issue with that part of the Lord’s Prayer since Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness where He was then tempted, obviously with His Father’s permission, before beginning His public ministry.   01:09:16 Anthony: I just saw a short video of former Mike Tyson telling two young men that the 3 years he spent in prison were the best of his life, because he was given deep peace. One young man challenged him how could this be, when there was a time Tyson earned millions for one fight.  Tyson replied that God may give us what we ask for to show us we can't handle what we want.  And the Tyson in this video was calm and peaceful, unlike his  life as a star, really sounding like a Christian.   01:09:36 Anthony: former boxer - sorry   01:10:57 Ren: “Bless you prison, bless you for being in my life. For there, lying upon the rotting prison straw, I came to realize that the object of life is not prosperity as we are made to believe, but the maturity of the human soul.”   01:11:55 Anthony: Don King?   01:12:32 Ren: The full quote is extraordinary. Something to frame.   01:13:36 Sheila Applegate: This ----> Tyson replied that God may give us what we ask for to show us we can't handle what we want.   01:16:08 Ren: It was granted to me to carry away from my prison years on my bent back, which nearly broke beneath its load, this essential experience: how a human being becomes evil and how good. In the intoxication of youthful successes I had felt myself to be infallible, and I was therefore cruel.   In the surfeit of power I was a murderer and an oppressor.   In my most evil moments I was convinced that I was doing good, and I was well supplied with systematic arguments. It was only when I lay there on rotting prison straw that I sensed within myself the first stirrings of good. Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either—but right through every human heart—and through all human hearts. . . .   That is why I turn back to the years of my imprisonment and say, sometimes to the astonishment of those about me: “Bless you, prison!”   I . . . have served enough time there. I nourished my soul there, and I say without hesitation: “Bless you, prison, for having been in my life!”   —Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn   01:17:17 Babington (or Babi): Thank you!   01:17:26 Cindy Moran: Thank you, Father for this important session.  

The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XXII, Part III

Both an inspiring and challenging section from the Evergetinos this evening!  The Fathers speak to us about the monastic life and its clear focus; a clarity that perhaps we have lost in more recent times. The monk lives for God, to seek God, to listen to God, and to pray. This he does as part of the Body of Christ, the Church, for the salvation of others. And yet we are shown how easy it is to cast off that “sweet yoke” of the Lord where He no longer has authority over us. Even a monk would gravitate away from what is described as the “Divine Wheat” that is drenched by the heavy rain of heavenly life bestowing Spirit. We leave peace and converse with God simply to be distracted by fleshly realities. We choose what is of passing and lesser value and let the divine slip through our fingers.  The monks show us that we are to guard the heart;  in particular by guarding our words and what we listen to. We must always seek to make our speech edifying, seasoning our words with Divine salt so as to preserve the purity of heart in the others as well as in ourselves. We must not listen to unprofitable words but flee the situation where we are tempted. No one should be so deluded so as to think that we can expose ourselves to angry, hostile, or wicked words and not become wicked ourselves. All such things remain lodged in the memory, imagination and heart. Our relationship with God must be precious in our eyes even if this means avoiding those who are acquisitive or licentious. Rather we must gravitate to the righteous man who through his words and deeds will draw us closer to God.  Do we want to be saved? This is the most powerful question of the night. It is a humbling thing to acknowledge our poverty of spirit and  so we can develop a resistance to God’s call to draw close to him. One may not want to be saved or find it too humiliating and so cling to a false self image. May God preserve us from such delusions. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:11:29 FrDavid Abernethy: page 190   00:11:37 FrDavid Abernethy: last paragraph   00:33:50 Anthony: In a way, this is an example of giving up a lesser good (awareness of others, or a form of fellowship) for the benefit of achieving a greater good?   00:36:09 maureencunningham: It seems like the early chuch was aware of demons   00:36:21 Jos: it gets even worse when it's about politics and religion   00:36:31 maureencunningham: It seems the America church has learned to adjust to them   00:36:58 maureencunningham: The early church called them demons   00:39:21 Paul Grazal: You wonder what engagement he had that made him think that.  I can think of a few that ive had that i should have avoided   00:40:58 Paul Grazal: Yes Thank You   00:41:38 Rachel Pineda: Tubes of paint... ,and books..   00:45:54 Anthony: Too much buying and selling and we don't know how to "be" but only to become; thus Americans are great in markets and inventions, but we neglect basic metaphysics about life, and we are now existing as several coexisting lost generations.   00:49:08 Lee Graham: We are entertaining ourselves to death   00:49:36 Carol: books and legos   00:50:41 Anthony: Or "The Great Wall" in 3D   00:57:20 Anthony: St. John of Damascus: "whether I will or not, O Lord, save me - quick, quick - for I perish."  Paraphrase from the Melkite Publicans Prayer Book.   00:59:37 maureencunningham: is it like piano it comes with much practice before one can play Bach   01:04:10 Daniel Allen: Like the Pharisee and the publican, the delusion of the holy person vs the truth of the sinner   01:07:51 Anthony: I think it has something to do with an urge which has good roots: "It is not good for man to be alone."  This is a good thing, but out of order.   01:09:11 Daniel Allen: The language of God is silence is something I thought about recently and why silence? And because it’s the silence that allows Him to be heard, like the gentle breeze that Elijah heard. He doesn’t replace our voice, He waits to be heard.   01:12:00 Debra: I'm a scheduled Adorer, at my parish. And I really struggle with just sitting in silence. I feel like I should be praying a rosary, or reading about the saints...doing something How can I develop the practice of sitting still? My brain is always racing through stuff   01:14:04 Paul Fifer: I think  Holy Hours were set to an Hour because it takes about 20 minutes to quiet our minds and hearts and enter into the Silence.   01:15:11 Debra: Paul: At least 20 minutes   01:16:06 Jos: is it advisable to think about God in the abstract or should we focus on Jesus as God to stay out of delusions in the face of the really mysterious idea of God?   01:20:27 Bridget McGinley: Thank you for that explanation Father.   01:21:04 Anthony: I just finished it.  It's amazing, drawing on the Greek fathers so sounds very orthodox   01:22:14 Rachel Pineda: Thank you  

The Ladder of Divine Ascent- Chapter IV: On Obedience, Part IV

Tonight we continued with St. John’s Step on Obedience. We are presented with an image that may be unfamiliar to us. Obedience is not presented as something that is crushing to the human spirit. It can be humiliating - in the sense that it seems to drive out from the soul and the heart all vestige of arrogance, fierceness, and hostility towards others. Yet, what emerges from this exercise of faith is conformity to Christ. When it is rooted in a true love for one’s shepherd, one’s Elder, then a kind of voluntary innocence begins to emerge; a childlike trust in the Elder that prevents a person from speculating about his motives or thinking that he is being driven by xmalice.  When we know that we are being guided by love then we are able to embrace even the most challenging of things. Obedience becomes are very food; something nourishing as it was for Christ himself. When perfected, it can bring about not only personal transformation but the transformation of every relationship that exists within our lives. When we let go of all machinations and all forms of calculation and seek simply to love and give ourselves in love -  peace and freedom emerge. We should speak of obedience as something that ultimately brings joy. Indeed, we should see all the virtues as doing exactly that – bringing us into the joy of the kingdom. ---   Text of chat during the group:   00:10:10 Art: In case anyone is interested.   00:10:16 Art: Upcoming online course:   THE WAY OF THE PILGRIM: Entering Into the Jesus Prayer Instructor:  Very Rev. Stephen Freeman Event Description "Pray without ceasing." —1 Thessalonians 5:17
What is prayer, and how does one learn how to pray? In this talk, journey with Fr. Stephen Freeman and a pilgrim in 19th-century Russia to explore the meaning of prayer in our lives. Event Details https://instituteofcatholicculture.org/events/the-way-of-the-pilgrim    Tuesday, August 23 Pre-Class Discussion:  7:30 PM EST Lecture:  8:00 PM EST Registration is required   00:12:03 Fr. Miron Jr.: yep!   00:12:44 FrDavid Abernethy: page 73, para 20   00:31:49 maureencunningham: The task was a lie or was he and Epicepic ?   00:39:55 Anthony: Vocation is seen as a job, matching personal characteristics to charisms of a community of the need to have clergy and religious   00:45:46 Debra: Would he have been allowed to receive Eucharist...attend Mass?   00:46:21 Bridget McGinley: The journey of the spiritual life in such a short paragraph. Beautifully spoken and written. We go through the same journey over a lifetime.   00:47:24 Bridget McGinley: It is easy to see that God should reward us for the little we do instead of being humble and low at the gift.   00:49:33 Bonnie Lewis: Thank you Father.  That was going to be my question, that he would be filled with sadness.  And yet, his life ended in a joyful death.   00:55:19 Anthony: Is this simple character the "Holy Fool"?  Or is that something else?   00:57:24 Ambrose Little, OP: Can you elaborate on "voluntary innocence” in this context?   01:02:20 Ambrose Little, OP: Maybe also it is "take no thought for tomorrow, what you shall eat, or what you shall wear.." That is also a kind of. innocence--simply trusting that God will provide.   01:03:01 Liz: In some Communities, were the Superior (or other brothers) does similar or more humilliating actions out of truly malice, can it also be taken as an instructive tool by the one who is suffering it unjustly, just out of the evil will of another one? Maybe this is also related with the voluntary innocence, without second-guessings.  Can this be applied in the secular life? To which extent can we distinguish it from the line of the "human dignity"?....   01:03:33 Carol: "real joy, which is paradisal innocence and attachment to God through the whole splendor of being alive." Olivier clement   01:08:33 Anthony: The monastic literature refers to beginning in community life before solitary life as the best way to live.  Natural law leads to the valuable community of family life.  In our day, there are so many single people, by choice or by circumstance, from age 18 or sadly even earlier.  Our age appears to be an aberration.  Do you have spiritual advice for so many solitaries thrust into solitary life, a period of being neither monastic nor familial?   01:14:44 maureencunningham: Thank You   01:15:36 carolnypaver: Song of Tears?   01:16:57 Cindy Moran: Thank you, Father! Great session!!   01:17:04 Liz: Thank you Father!  

The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XXII, Part II

We picked up this evening with our reading of the very challenging Hypothesis 22: the Fathers’ teaching to avoid the world and worldly relations. However, we must understand that when they speak of the world they speak of those things or relationships that are driven more by the passions than by grace and the love of God.  Central to this is having a rightly ordered love that is focused upon Christ. All things must begin and end with Him and all things are judged in light of the Love of the Kingdom. This Love must become the lens through which we view all things, most especially our own thoughts and desires. What is it - at this moment - that is going to be pleasing to God or fulfill our obedience to our elder? Are we doing things in subtle ways simply to please ourselves; always seeking to form and fashion our own identity and to be the source of meaning for ourselves and our lives?  For a Christian living in the world to “stay in one’s cell“ means to keep watch over my inner self, my own heart. This is why the Fathers put forward as an essential practice unceasing prayer, and particular the Jesus Prayer. It is only by constantly calling out to God that we are given the strength and the grace to love God and to love others in the way He desires for us. We are called to be Christ for one another and so our love and our actions must be Christlike. To be anything otherwise is to strip the gospel of its power to make ourselves unrecognizable as those who have been made sons and daughters of God. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:17:12 carolnypaver: Congratulations!🥳   00:18:31 Debra: What are we congratulating? I came in late   00:18:50 carolnypaver: 500 podcasts for Fr. David!   00:19:09 Ambrose Little, OP: remarkable progress. how did we get to p188?? 🙂   00:20:07 Debra: Oh, wow! Thanks Carolyn!   00:32:55 Anthony: Does this mean that even as being a contemplative is a vocation, staying in a city to minister must be a specific vocatiom?   00:59:00 Rachel: I love that song!   01:01:29 Annie Karto: So true about doing more than what God asks, especially in ministry   01:05:15 Erick Chastain: Stop being friends as much as possible with worldly people. It will help everything tremendously. Having done this it helps remove many occasions of sin.   01:10:42 Carol Nypaver: It’s difficult to remember, as parents, that the goal of parenting is not that our children love us but to raise them to be citizens of Heaven, which  sometimes causes them to hate us.   01:11:19 Rachel: Thank you Carol!   01:12:04 Erick Chastain: I read it as saying we should flee from the world as much as possible, including worldly people, to protect ourselves from the flaring of the passions   01:13:04 Erick Chastain: but without abandoning our responsibilities if we are not a monk   01:19:59 John White: The author of The Imitation of Christ paraphrased the Roman philosopher/playwright Seneca "As often as I have been among men, I have returned home a lesser man"   01:20:10 Ambrose Little, OP: Challenge to connect with people if we always are trying to be aloof.   01:20:11 iPad (10)maureen: I think the monk you met You spotted Joy, It Joy we give up things   01:23:31 iPad (10)maureen: I say the. Jesus prayer when something I do not like  is on TV   01:23:40 Ambrose Little, OP: You could try time boxing. Like “I'll watch an hour with you" or something and/or “just this show on this day" or similar.   01:24:39 Erick Chastain: that's a great suggestion Ambrose!   01:30:13 Annie Karto: What beautiful teaching Fr. Thank you   01:31:32 Daniel Swinington: thank you  

The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter IV: On Obedience, Part III

We picked up this evening once again with Step 4 on Obedience. John describes it for us as standing before God with a kind of simplicity and humility; truthful living before God and others. When we live in this manner we unburden ourselves and so run a good race without a heavy conscience and also protected from the cunning of the demons who make exacting investigation of our deeds.  After describing obedience and defining it, John then turns to give us beautiful examples of those who lived it in an heroic fashion. In particular, we are told of a thief who seeks admittance to a monastery. Gradually the superior test his obedience through the confession of his sins privately and publicly. The thief does this with profound humility and obedience that is shocking even to Saint John. It is then that he is received into the monastery and given the habit. He overcame the shame of his sin through the shame of bringing all things to light.  St. John goes on to describe the fruit that this bore within the community. They were so formed by the spirit of obedience through their skillful superior and physician of souls, that they began to live the angelic life. Their love and generosity towards each other was unparalleled. They would seek to protect each other’s consciences and also to take each other’s burdens upon themselves. --- Text of chat during the group:  00:07:36 FrDavid Abernethy: starting tonight on page 70, paragraph 9   00:41:45 renwitter: Without this type of public, and total confession, is there any way to attain to a similar level of freedom? I feel like so many carry certain sins as secrets from all but their confessor, and maybe spouse.   00:44:14 Fr. Miron Jr.: 1st sunday of Great Lent   00:55:47 renwitter: This also perfectly compliments what we discussed in the Evergetinos on Monday - the simple, very easy way that idle conversation becomes evil conversation, and thus something that needs to be avoided even in the very beginning when it seems really harmless. There is nothing harmless about what is idle.   01:03:28 Ashley Kaschl: It’s not hard since a lot of things die in this heat 😂   01:04:17 Barb Heyrman: I am reminded of a homily on one very hot & humid Sunday.  “If you think this is hot…try bell.”   01:07:59 renwitter: I am reminded of my favorite quote from an old cartoon (the context is the Dad of the family dropping his son off for Sunday school). Son: “But Dad, Sunday school is so not cool." Dad: “You know what's not cool Bobby? Hell.”   01:08:32 Ashley Kaschl: 😂😂   01:16:15 Ashley Kaschl: I was on the go earlier, so you don’t have to respond to this, Father.    But the public confession of past wrongs in the earlier paragraphs reminds me of the General Judgment.   01:16:19 Ashley Kaschl: And in contemplating that, at first, there’s a real, gripping fear that all will be made clear, nothing will be hidden. Since sin is an absence, an act contrary to reality, that wounds both us and the Body, this type of confession, which we will all endure in the end, can’t NOT be healing and ultimately freeing.    But then, in understanding the sacramental life, Who and where I’m made for, and if one has a penitential disposition, it’s less about standing in shame or fear, and more like we would stand before everyone with a deep recognition, humility, and admission for having been who we are not and did not want to be.   01:21:14 Rachel Pineda: Thank you!   01:21:16 Bonnie Lewis: Thank you Father!   01:21:36 Bonnie Lewis: A blessed birthday to you !   01:21:40 Maple(Hannah) Hong: Thankk you   01:21:43 Rachel Pineda: Happy Birthday! LOL 60   01:21:45 Sheila Applegate: Happy Birthday!   01:22:00 carolnypaver: Birthday Blessings!   01:22:02 kevin: happy Birthday   01:22:05 Maple(Hannah) Hong: Happy Birthday!   01:22:10 Rachel Pineda: The kids still think you are ancient but look young. God bless! Happy Birthday!  

The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XXI, Part VI and Hypothesis XXII, Part I

We began this evening with the final pages of Hypothesis 21 describing the importance of not opening one’s conscience to an individual unless guided by the Grace of God to do so. It is not a small thing to entrust oneself to the care of another, especially the care of one’s soul. Therefore we are counseled to be discriminating. For the elder that we choose, or rather the elder that God chooses for us, is a gift; a relationship of love and devotion. An Elder does not see himself as detached from our struggles but rather enters into them and takes penance and prayer upon himself for our healing. We do not struggle in isolation. Understanding the importance of this relationship,then, we should pray for our elder and love him.  Moving on to Hypothesis 22 we are warned to avoid meetings with careless men and avoiding anything that would disturb the peace of our heart or the stillness that has been hard won. We must never see idle conversation as insignificant. Rather we must understand that if allow ourselves to be drawn along by such conversations our consciences will coarsen and we will find ourselves engaged in grievous conversations and behaviors.  We are given a wonderful example of an elder who, because of his purity and innocence, finds God responding immediately to his prayers for others. No impediment is placed before the action of God‘s grace in his life or acting through his intercession. We should not be surprised when the Fathers tell us that if we neglect our relationship with God or treat His grace cheaply that our prayers go unanswered. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:23:16 B K-LEB: like fr zozima   00:29:29 Ambrose Little, OP: “outraged ... since he did not rely totally on the help of God." Love that.   00:31:10 Anthony: So much for "Grace Alone."  One the one hand, all good is from God, all good is a grace.  But, we must exercise the faculty of human nature (which is also a gift) to choose the grace, to at least choose a desire for the grace.  I think St. Anselm says this in "One Truth" or "On Free Will"   00:32:22 Anthony: "On Truth"   00:39:21 Anthony: In America, we tie sin to things: sugary drinks, alcohol, guns, etc.  It is very selective. But traditionally, sin is attached to our deficiencies of soul - and a Puritan look at sin does not take this psychology into account.   00:40:36 Sheila Applegate: Attachment to having life the way we want it?   00:50:10 B K-LEB: i agree anthony   00:50:38 B K-LEB: i personally think the inner spiritual sins are far worse than the physical sins   00:52:02 B K-LEB: i'd rather go to heaven fat and humble than thin and proud, haha   00:53:18 Ren: It would be so good for seminarians to read this particular hypothesis when they study confession. So much meaningful, and practical advice. The way to engage the penitent, the call to enter into repentance with them…all just so good.   00:54:41 B K-LEB: too much theology can make us proud pharisees   00:56:56 Anthony: Copts require new priests to spend 40 days in monastery   00:57:56 Bridget McGinley: The Jesuits used to not be able to listen to women's confessions until they had been a priest for 10 years.   01:02:50 B K-LEB: isn't spiritual pride essentially the worst kind of sin?   01:04:59 Anthony: He gives us a remedy: using the 2nd person plural in the Our Father so we lump ourselves together with all other sinners: "Forgive US OUR trespasses as WE forgive those who trespass against us / Lead US not into temptation but deliver US from evil."   01:20:36 Ren: The warning that idle words quickly become harmful ones is really, really helpful. I have often seen this happen in myself, yet I’ve never heard it explicitly said that the one can so easily lead to the other. It casts a far more serious light on consenting to idle conversation, knowing how easily it leads to something more sinister. So many “little sins” become more sinister when you examine the greater sins that the open the door to. I know that even thinking about addressing this is terrifying for me…but it does make me think about how much idle conversation one is exposed to in television, movies, radio, social media…definitely thought provoking.   01:31:06 Ren: Awesome way to make a discussion of the Fathers topically connected to the holiday :D GO REVOLUTION!! ;-)   01:34:46 B K-LEB: thank u so much  

The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter IV: On Obedience, Part II

This evening we picked up with Step 4 on Obedience. Saint John puts it before us in an unvarnished fashion. It is hard work. It offers us great freedom; freedom from all of our concerns about the things of the world, daily circumstances, or what others do or say to us. Yet, it is a rough way because it means letting go of our own will, self-judgment and opinion. We freely give these things over to another who becomes our “helmsman”.  The helmsman becomes our “nous” - the eye of the heart - while we lack that purity of heart.  One does not choose to live in obedience indiscriminately, Saint John tells us. Rather, we must make sure that we embrace obedience and give our judgment over to one who can truly guide us along the path that leads to the kingdom. Otherwise, Saint John tells us, we should get no profit from our subjection. For this reason we must write the good deeds of our elder on our hearts and constantly remember them. For once we have chosen to live in obedience, either under an elder or within our particular vocation in life and to our particular vows, we are inevitably going to be attacked by the evil one who desires to make us distrust our elder.  Obedience is of the greatest value because in humbling the mind in the body it frees us from all the things that stir the passions within us. Obedience is not meant to be a form of oppression or of infantilizing others. An elder is to embrace his disciple with the greatest love and desire for his well-being. For in the end he will be held responsible for the one God has placed in his care. --- Text of chat during the group:  00:11:14 FrDavid Abernethy: page 69 n.4   00:11:19 FrDavid Abernethy: On obedience   00:17:13 Fr. Miron Kerul-Kmec Jr.: I’m young!   00:29:29 Anthony: For what it's worth, here are attorney saints: Augustine, Fidelis Sigmaringen, Thomas More, Aloysius Gonzaga.  The only one I think who was led to the spiritual life without trauma was Fidelis of Sigmaringen.  There have to be more attorney-saints.   00:30:38 Anthony: Well, St. Thomas More began well but was rarified through trauma   00:40:22 Ambrose Little, OP: sometimes you do. 😄   00:44:54 Anthony: St Seraphim of Sarov: "Headache may be caused by agitated and excessively forced mental activity."  Last sentence of Spiritual Instruction #15.  Maybe obedience helps us avoid overthinking.   00:49:14 M C: I have found it difficult to find an orthodox spiritual director.   00:53:35 Ambrose Little, OP: Would you think that this guidance applies to, e.g., our bishop and/or the Holy Father? The CCC says we owe religious submission of intellect and will. Makes me wonder about what's going on in the Church these days.   00:58:19 Ambrose Little, OP: Definitely recommend reading the Holy Father's letter on the liturgy published today. Very powerful stuff. (Sorry, gotta run to pick up the younguns. God bless, y'all.)   00:58:59 Art: Desidero Desideravi   01:02:33 Anthony: Book recommendation: "Papacy and Revolution" by EEY Hales.  It was the "conservative" (but really liberal because they were so headstrong?) Jansenists who unwittingly had a seminal role in bringing about the French Revolution.   01:04:39 Anthony: i.e. Oliver Cromwell in England   01:13:00 Sam Rodriguez : My first exposure of that teaching “put no trust in yourself” was the Spiritual Combat by Scupoli. Is a core tenet of his, from the earliest pages, if I remember correctly   01:15:46 M C: Thank you!   01:15:53 Cindy Moran: Thank you Father!   01:16:06 Maple(Hannah) Hong: Thank you!  

The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XXI, Part V

What a beautiful group this evening. Once again we hear a young brother asking  questions about transgressing the commands and guidance given by an elder. What we hear over and over again is an emphasis upon the fact that an elder is not disconnected from one in his care. If a person transgresses a command or ignores the guidance of an elder, he is to return to him without fear or with the expectation that his humility will be met with anything but gentleness, tenderness, and further counsel. Of course, this does not mean we fall into neglect or become indifferent about striving to live holy lives.  What we find in the Fathers again and again is an emphasis upon the value of repentance; turning to God with humble hearts and receiving a flood of his grace and mercy.  Again the brother asks if one should simply neglect to learn about the spiritual life so as not to be held accountable for particular sins. The elder quickly tells him that such a thought is sinister in that it blocks the path to true healing. Sin brings its own suffering. Repentance is a gift from God that opens up a path to healing and hope.  Why would one not want to know the path that God has opened up for us? Why would one not desire the wisdom of the counsel of the fathers in order that they might truly be healed? Furthermore, the elder emphasizes that God values the person of his servants precisely because they imitate Christ himself. They offer advice with intense and warm prayer to God and make their own the sufferings of others crying out to God, “Master save us, we perish.“  Save US! We do not struggle as Christians in isolation but we embrace one another’s struggles as our own. --- Text of chat during the group:  00:16:40 David Fraley: Hello to all.   00:16:52 FrDavid Abernethy: page 180 letter K.  Hypothesis 21   00:17:17 FrDavid Abernethy: hi Dave   00:17:25 FrDavid Abernethy: where are the snacks??   00:19:01 maureencunningham: thank you Ren   00:24:58 carolnypaver: What page/section?   00:25:09 renwitter: =Page 181   00:25:16 carolnypaver: TY   00:34:35 Sheila Applegate: I often feel like Sisyphus rolling the rock up the hill only  to have it come crashing down. Rinse. Repeat.   00:35:39 Debra: Same

The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter III: On Exile, Part V and Chapter IV: On Obedience, Part I

We returned this evening to Step 3 on Exile. St. John concludes by simply telling us that exile - simplifying one’s life - creates a stable character. This is a precious gift and so we must guard our minds and our hearts so that we do not corrupt ourselves by entering once again into what is worldly and disorderly. Saint John concludes Step 3 by taking a moment to speak to us about dreams. A dream involves the minds activity when the body is asleep. The mind, as we know, can be very active; often swept along by the things of day-to-day life or by what rest deep within the unconscious. Saint John warns us that the demons can use our dreams by playing the role of prophet. They convince us that our dreams have deep meaning, they tell us something important about the future, or tell us what is happening in a loved one’s life. Demons can transform themselves into angels of light and lead us into a kind of unholy joy and conceit over what is revealed within our dreams. We can find the demons making sport of us when we so much credence to their interpretation. Therefore, we should distrust our dreams; knowing that like the fantasies in our waking hours they can be used against us in dangerous ways.  We then turned to Step 4 on Obedience. Saint John begins to emphasize its importance for us in the spiritual battle. We are to seek this as one of our most important weapons because it conforms us in a special way to Christ -  whose food was to do the will of His heavenly Father. An obedient soul listens deeply to what God and one’s superior is telling him. Obedience protects us from the delusion of our own judgment, opinions and reasons. We do not see all ends and the fact that we ignore this does not go unnoticed by the evil one. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:11:12 FrDavid Abernethy: page 66 paragraph 24   00:28:36 Lee Graham: Entertaining our thoughts while awake   00:34:29 Iwona Bednarz-Major: Aquinas says that our imagination can be seen by demons (and good angels, as originally they are both superb intellectual beings), since they are formed in our intelligence. Is that where the spiritual warfare takes place in dreams (logismoi)?   00:39:26 Ryan Schaefer: At Franciscan U a lot of students supposedly had visions. Some students seemed very proud of the fact that they’ve seen angels, seen the future, etc… always seemed like a red flag to me   00:43:56 Bridget McGinley: Little nervous, I don't dream ( at least I don't remember). My soul!?!?   00:46:50 Cindy Moran: ]   00:49:09 Ryan Schaefer: The TORs at Franciscan always told us that we would receive consolations if we are following Gods will. Often they said if we are not following God then we would NOT receive a “spirit of peace”. Is this incorrect? How does this relate to para. 29   00:52:05 Rachel: Everytime I've read this, it has confused me a bit. Since it can be dangerous to speak about the interior life on account of the demons who will try to trick us at every moment, how are we supposed to approach confession and the revealing of thoughts to one's confessor or spiritual director? Even here it seems to me one has to be very discerning and careful.   00:52:10 Rachel: LOL   00:56:29 Ambrose Little, OP: well!   00:56:56 Rachel: Okay, ! That was what I was going to ask about the grace of the Sacrament. But we went on to dreams etc. :)     I think when I first became Catholic this witnessing was something that made me pause. Wow, thank you   00:57:04 Iwona Bednarz-Major: Fr. David, continuing my previous thought, I was always thinking that demons can only have an insight into our inner life based on our behavior but lately I've read Aquinas: Summa, First Part, Question 111. The action of the angels on man Article 3. Whether an angel can change man's imagination? with hims stating: “I answer that, Both a good and a bad angel by their own natural power can move the human imagination. " and then explaining further that thought: “An angel changes the imagination, not indeed by the impression of an imaginative form in no way previously received from the senses”, I was perplexed. If you would have any insight on that from your perspective in the future, that would be great. Thank you.   00:58:57 Rachel: Oh, I missed this week's class. 🙃   00:59:47 sue and mark: ok, thank you..   01:02:43 Iwona Bednarz-Major: thank you   01:18:02 Lee Graham: I totally agree with you   01:20:45 Anthony: Obedience has a very important role in daily work.  As craftsman is obedient to the methods of the trade and masters; a government worker is obedient to the law's "you shall" in regard to enforcement - especially when he does not want to enforce the law; a day laborer is obedient to the payor.  Obedience is especially essential in a medieval guild system.  All life is master-apprentice.   01:22:44 Anthony: mass commodity is modern edicatin   01:22:49 Anthony: education   01:22:59 Ashley Kaschl: Sorry I didn’t type fast enough before but I wanted to touch on what you were saying a paragraph ago about obedience and humility.    I think you’ve said before that at the heart of the word ‘Obedience’ is the meaning ‘to hear’, and that humility, being tied to obedience, is prone to silence.    I was thinking about something I heard a couple years back from my pastor that the word Silent, is comprised of the same letters which spell the words Listen and Enlist. So it just brought to mind that in humble silence of our prayer we listen (obedience) for His voice so that He can enlist us in the particular task He has set before us, that we might be caught up in God’s purpose.   01:23:54 Carol Nypaver: Wow!   01:27:15 Cindy Moran: Thank you Father...so wonderful to be here!   01:27:17 Sheila Applegate: Thanks again, Father.   01:27:20 Ryan Schaefer: God bless you father thank you!   01:27:21 Art: Thank you Father.  Goodnight all.   01:27:21 Miron Kerul Kmec: Thank you  

The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XXI, Part IV

We continued with the incredible counsel of the Fathers about how one discerns when to embrace the advice and counsel of others, specifically one’s Elder. The first distinction made is about advice - counsel that is a part of the spiritual tradition as a whole and so valuable in and of itself. This should be embraced faithfully - for it is given by the goodness and kindness of one’s Elder. When that relationship has grown throughout the course of the years a command may be given by an Elder. This command, however, is only given under specific circumstances; never casually. One must have a kind of clarity and sense of commitment to what is being asked of the Elder. This is to be done by making a prostration, a bodily action and sign of obeisance showing one’s desire to take hold of the command of the Elder. The Elder, then, in an equally concrete fashion must give his blessing. In doing so he takes upon himself the commitment to pray and fast that the one in his care would be able to fulfill the command. We see in all of this the depth of the relationship that must exist between an Elder and the one in his charge. We do not simply expose ourselves to information, reading the writings of the Elders and applying them to our lives. Rather, we enter into a living tradition and it is in and through this relationship between an elder and the one in his care that spiritual growth is made. It is a relationship of love that mirrors the relationship that Christ has with each of us. He calls us to give ourselves to Him and follow Him and in doing so He gives us himself in the most holy Eucharist. The command always holds within it the grace to help us fulfill it.  --- Text of chat during the group: 00:17:46 FrDavid Abernethy: Anthony Coniaris   00:17:55 FrDavid Abernethy: Beginnners Guide to the Philokalia   01:09:50 Ren: This reminder that the Elder prays for the one whom he counsels is very helpful. I am not sure there is anything more humbling than being prayed for - or fasted for! Knowing that another is investing themselves so deeply on your behalf definitely spurs one on to greater dedication. The gift demands a response.   01:11:26 Ren: Yes. Wow. Imagine that: God himself, in the person of Christ, fasted for each one of us. Spent himself praying for each of us. So very humbling.   01:12:09 Carol Nypaver: Absolutely.   01:20:09 Ren: Just a little PSA for everyone: we have switched our email service to MailChimp. If you did not receive an email in advance of tonight’s group, please check your spam filter, and mark it as not junk. Thank you!   01:21:32 David Fraley: Thanks Fr David!   01:21:47 Debra: The short link, tonight, still triggered a 'Threat Warning' from Avast lol   01:21:58 Ambrose Little: stop using Avast   01:22:20 Fr. Miron Kerul-Kmec Jr.: 2nd experience with baptism!   01:22:28 Eric Williams: Keeping you busy and out of trouble. ;)   01:22:54 Debra: You're making me want to switch to the East lol  

The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter III: On Exile, Part IV

We continued our reading of step three on Exile. As with so many things said within the Ladder of Divine Ascent, the words of Saint John are jarring. It is not because John seeks to be abrasive or provocative; rather he is presenting us with the Gospel through the lens of the monastic vocation. It is God who embraced exile in the greatest sense through the incarnation. Christ, out of love for the Father  and His will and out of love for us, exiles himself into the depths of humanity and of our sin in order to raise us to new life. Our exile is simply a response to this great gift of love and sacrifice on our behalf. We freely choose to exile ourselves from the things that pulls away from fulfilling the will of God or loving Him unconditionally not because of any hatred for the world or the things of the world. It is the desire for God that guides and shapes our ascetical life and our spiritual disciplines. Outside of the love of God they lack meaning. They are to be a response of humble gratitude for what God has given to us. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:15:53 Cindy Moran: I have no audio   00:22:06 Anthony: I think I finally get your admonishment to read things in context. He can't be talking about withdrawing from a family like St. Basil's 3 generations living in harmony family life and monastic life.   00:34:10 Rachel: Like the ghetto in Sacramento. lol   00:34:29 B K-LEB: this teaching is too hard............   00:34:35 Erick chastain: moved to texas   00:34:45 Erick chastain: God's country   00:34:45 Daniel Allen: I would add that it starts at home with the family   00:34:53 Bonnie Lewis: Wait a minute.  I   00:35:06 Bonnie Lewis: I'm in Texas   00:35:12 Edward Kleinguetl: Welcome to Texas.  I live in Houston, although moving to Toronto in six weeks.   00:36:04 Daniel Allen: Can’t flee to a place and expect everything to be somehow better. There isn’t a real chance to run to something if you don’t have it with you first. Like St Seraphim of Sarov, acquire the spirit of peace.   00:37:19 Erick chastain: thanks deacon Ed!   00:37:42 Erick chastain: agreed Daniel.   00:38:21 Joseph Caro: I wonder if this fleeing into the desert (in the literal, monkish, sense) is becoming increasingly next to impossible for our current western civilization without first a radical severance from cell phones, internet, Facebook, etc. And I am wondering if even the secondary more modest type of detachment can be fully done without first tempering our use of media, internet, etc.. . I don't know though, just my first impression.   00:38:21 Erick chastain: I moved to Texas to work at a catholic university and live near the daily latin mass.   00:38:59 Anthony: Joseph - so much data DOES impede contemplation.   00:39:20 B K-LEB: i agree with you Joseph the internet is an endless void   00:39:36 Edward Kleinguetl: Amen!   00:39:58 Carol Nypaver: 👍🏻 Erick and Joseph!   00:40:29 Ambrose Little, OP: The internet has so much to foster our knowledge of the faith and to connect with other faith-filled persons (like this group). It's a tool. Have to use it wisely.   00:41:28 Dayton S: 👆   00:42:08 Art: Good for you Erick. Is it Univ of Dallas?   00:43:29 Erick chastain: I moved to Texas to work at a catholic university and live near the daily latin mass. Guarding my mind and heart from secular people. Reduced temptations to anger and worldly ambition.   00:44:58 Sr Mary of our Divine Savior solt: In our community a small group of us are living a more contemplative life.  And it has been a very rocky road.  We are not monastic but are called to live the life of our Blessed Mother in the Cenacle.  We do 3 hours of adoration and one of them is at 12am for priest. And another sacrifice is not eating meat in the convent.  Also doing the full Divine Office.  Only time will tell if God will bring us vocations to live this way of life. To try and live a more contemplative life in todays world is a challenge.   00:46:30 Carol Nypaver: Thank you, Sister Mary.  May your efforts bear much good fruit!   00:47:20 Ambrose Little, OP: I am reminded of Pope St. John Paul II: Be not afraid! Lead out into the deep. (Duc in altum.)   00:48:04 Anthony: Nassim Nicholas Talib, in "The Bed of Procrustes":  Philosophers walk, they do not run.  He is an Orthodox Christian who takes the spirit of Orthodoxy into his academic/risk analysis/economic work.  He's right.  God is not speaking in urgent panic.  Be a "lover of wisdom."  Walk, and enjoy and contemplate.   00:48:22 Ambrose Little, OP: Lead = duc   00:48:37 iPhone: Chapter 5 of the Letter of Diognetus comes to mind…. Christians are not distinguished from other men by country, language, nor by the customs which they observe. They do not inhabit cities of their own, use a particular way of speaking, nor lead a life marked out by any curiosity. The course of conduct they follow has not been devised by the speculation and deliberation of inquisitive men. The do not, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of merely human doctrines.   Instead, they inhabit both Greek and barbarian cities, however things have fallen to each of them. And it is while following the customs of the natives in clothing, food, and the rest of ordinary life that they display to us their wonderful and admittedly striking way of life.   They live in their own countries, but they do so as those who are just passing through. As citizens they participate in everything with others, yet they endure everything as if they were foreigners. Every foreign land is like their homeland to them, and every land…   00:48:42 B K-LEB: he's the one (NNT) i once quoted who said "God provides the cure then he allows the problem"   00:52:11 Ashley Kaschl: Daniel, I love that song! 🔥   00:52:22 Sheila Applegate: Great band.   00:53:12 Daniel Allen: I could listen to that album on repeat haha   01:02:41 Ren: The figure of Abraham is a beautiful fleshing out of what we spoke about a couple of groups ago: that this kind of exile is an exile TO not FROM. The figure of Joseph is one that perhaps illustrates a kind of opposite: an exile from, that God works with in order to effect good - an exile that will, in fact, lead to the slavery of the entire people of God. But Abraham embraces exile for the sake of covenant with God and is thus a far superior example.   01:04:48 Anthony: The book of Jasher has a story that Abraham was one of the few righteous worshippers of God among the people around the Tower of Babel, and God called him away.   01:08:05 Anthony: Christ's exile was also out of love.   01:09:13 Ambrose Little, OP: Gotta run. Family thing. God bless.   01:12:03 B K-LEB: love can be very selfish and manipulative st pope b16 said   01:12:23 Bonnie Lewis: This reminds me of Peter leaving the boat to follow Jesus but his attention was diverted and his faith was weakened, and he began to sink.   01:13:47 Ren: Ooo. So hard   01:16:04 Erick chastain: exile is awesome!   01:16:15 Daniel Allen: Hang in there it only gets more uncomfortable haha   01:16:55 Erick chastain: exile is awesome!   01:17:02 B K-LEB: lol   01:17:37 B K-LEB: i am projecting so much angst on fr. david while reading this, i dont want to hear it@@   01:18:05 Carol Nypaver: How do we not seem indifferent while “letting go?”   01:19:08 Lee Graham: A greater understanding of to what God is calling you   01:21:11 B K-LEB: jesus himself sweats blood   01:21:32 Erick chastain: holy suffering vs worldly suffering   01:21:57 Lee Graham: Count it all joy   01:22:14 Daniel Allen: I don’t mean to sanitize this, and I don’t think this doesn’t that, but I keep returning to letting go of our own will. The monk being called to the desert had to abandon his will for comfort, family, and familiarity. But every day we have to let go of our own will and embrace noisy kids and a lack of silence, or work that doesn’t fulfill a personal sense of gaining in what has meaning, and time for oneself. My examples obviously more align with having a lot of small children, but I think that (to me) is the letting go of the will that the monk is also doing.   01:23:42 Daniel Allen: Sorry writing stream of conscious isn’t something I’m good at haha. Glad you could make sense of that rambling paragraph   01:24:12 Cathy Murphy: That is the joy of children.  You must be in the present moment and only love them   01:26:32 Bonnie Lewis: Thank you Father!!   01:26:37 Iwona Bednarz-Major: Thanks!   01:26:37 Rachel: Thank you Father and everyone   01:26:37 Cindy Moran: Thank you, Father...good night!   01:26:47 Art: Thank you father and stay cool Pittsburgh  

The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XXI, Part III

What a Magnificent group this evening on the Evergetinos. We truly began to see the wisdom of the fathers and how in reality they were the first depth psychologists. They knew the workings of the mind in the heart so well. This evening we discussed how it is that one listens to a spiritual elder and what they offer as counsel. How is it that we discern the truth when we find ourselves still struggling with the same sins or sorrow or worry? Is the advice of the elder ineffective or is it because of our own disposition or of our changing dispositions over the course of time. What we find in the section that we looked at this evening is that the fault often lies within ourselves. The human person is a mystery and we struggle with internal contradictions; we can love and hate our sin at the same time. Therefore, we hear the advice of a spiritual elder in many different ways. Sometimes we only hear partial truths. At other times we do not an act on what the elder told us to do. Or quite simply we have lacked faith in God and the power of His Grace. In their “Science of Sciences” the fathers show us how it is that we are to discern and come to know the workings of our heart as well as the action of God‘s Grace. ---   Text of chat during the group:   00:09:41 Eric Williams: I guess you were more of a Soul Train guy, Father ;)   00:11:52 Eric Williams: Exciting!   00:13:00 Eric Williams: Whereas an hour of cheesy hymns feels like an eternity ;)   00:16:58 Tyler Woloshyn: Glory be Forever!   00:26:44 Anthony: Perhaps this story illustrates the peculiar image in Scripture that God hardens hearts, like in Romans Chapter 9?  All things for Christ, but God permits to each person temptations or struggles which could be for our good but makes it appear God hates them?  Especially when we are previously unmerciful?  Or am I off the mark?   00:29:59 Mark Kelly: The ancient Greeks (before XC) said,” Those that the gods wish to bring down (destroy) they first make great.  Perhaps, because of the Incarnation, we can say, “Those that GOD wishes to make great, He first brings them low.” 00:31:27 Tyler Woloshyn: It reminds me of the verse and humbly to bear one another's burdens (Galatians 6:2)   00:32:09 B K-LEB: St therese said "the spirit blows where it wills"   00:32:27 B K-LEB: when asked about why she thinks God chose her..   00:38:11 Rachel Pineda: I do not think I am being to harsh here that the asceticism spoken of here is sometimes taken as superstitious but in fact when one treats it as such  it is a lack of faith in God's Providential care of each and every soul. Also, a lack of patience. Well, the Father just said better than I.   00:39:05 Anthony: St. Padre Pio ~ If you think I make a mistake, do you think God would?  (different context, but the principle fits.)   00:39:48 Rachel Pineda: LOL   00:39:58 Rachel Pineda: No the Desert Father but okay   00:40:15 Rachel Pineda: I am sure you know better than I   00:41:05 Rachel Pineda: What I am speaking about is the radical conversion that takes place. Even to other faithful it can look weird.   00:41:41 B K-LEB: I heard a man who had dealt with sexual abuse at the church say that "you don't have to heal to be holy". I am wondering your thoughts about this. Is healing necessarily and intrinsically related to holiness?   00:45:14 Rachel Pineda: I think Archbishop Fulton Sheen spoke about that in his talks on confession!   00:48:40 B K-LEB: wow thank u   00:49:09 Rachel Pineda: Yes, Thank you!   00:53:02 Anthony: It seems to me that the grief or pain is often one of the mind or imagination, but the center of the soul is confident in God.  The nagging thought is precisely the fog of thought, and the devil wishes it to descend to the nous - but God Who does not abandon the man allows us to conscously unite out thoughts to the  "crown of thorns" of Christ's crucifixion.   00:56:50 Anthony: Fr. Pavel Florovsku, "Iconostasis", opens with a discussion of dreams and time.   00:56:57 Anthony: Florovsky   00:58:49 Rachel Pineda: WOW!!   01:01:02 B K-LEB: Father you should talk more about this topic many are interested   01:17:42 Anthony: Father, this isn't just a religious topic. It involves the philosophical discipline of epistemlogy (the search for certain truth) - and we Americans are so impoverished in philosophical language and concepts   01:19:38 Eric Williams: Data, data everywhere, and not a thought to think   01:21:10 Carol Nypaver: My daughter once asked a co-worker what he thought about a particular topic.  He said, I haven’t thought about that, let me look it up.  😲   01:21:26 Anthony: It's a form of intoxication.   01:23:01 Debra: Off topic: Asking for prayers for all those effected by the flooding in southern Montana, and Yellowstone park Several rivers flooded; roads and bridges gone  Thank you   01:24:17 Tyler Woloshyn: Good night. God bless!   01:24:37 David Fraley: Good night, everyone!   01:24:55 Rachel Pineda: Goodnight!   01:25:04 Rachel Pineda: Thank you Father and everyone!   01:25:15 sue and mark: good night and God Bless  

The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter III: On Exile, Part III

We continued this week with step number 3 on Exile. Saint John takes us deeper into the mystery of what it is to live as a Christian within the world. God calls to the heart and desires that we give our love to Him as he has given his love to us.  Ultimately this is the reason why the monks exiled themselves to the desert. It was not to free themselves from the company of others. Rather they separated themselves from all things in order to become inseparable from Christ. Similarly, in our day-to-day life, we exile ourselves from all those things which would cool our devotion for the Lord. We are careful not to turn back to the things that we are attached to knowing that in doing so we are likely to be drawn back to the things of the world. This exile is not hatred. It is the desire to let Christ be the one who teaches us what is good for us. We are to let the virtues, the angels and the Saints, the remembrance of death, contrition, be our family and our friends. These are the things that endure and will support us and our journey toward the kingdom. --- Text of chat during the group:  00:28:02 Rachel: Yep   00:30:37 carolnypaver: Page?   00:30:42 Anthony: carpathian plainchant   00:30:45 Ren: 64   00:30:57 carolnypaver: TY   00:32:19 Rachel: I think it is a way of protecting the other as well as one's own heart. It is not just about outright vulgar immodesty. It is about our minding our gaze. Because we long to gaze at the Face of God. To be able, please God, to see as God sees.   00:47:14 Anthony: In section 12, we are dealing with stymied vocations.  In section 11, we were warned against being self-appointed saviors of the world.  Maybe appointing yourself a savior of the world is like dwelling in the dumps on your sin.  The gaze of the person is turned inward on "look at what I can do / look what I did" and that is harmful to the person and to the world.  It is God Who _gives_ the vocation and the salvation.  The goal of Christian life is a genuine blissful loss of the self-awareness as a branch loses itself in the vine?  If he dwells on his fault, he is consumed with canker; if he boasts of himself, he is consumed with worthless woody growth, not fruit.   00:49:14 carolnypaver: “….delivered them up to their doom?” Please explain this part.   00:49:24 Ren: 12   00:51:44 Debra: Just going to the store in June, is indoctrination :/   00:58:17 Rachel: Yes!   00:58:31 Rachel: Go into your room and pray to God in secret..   01:00:31 Robyn Greco: Thank you Father   01:06:40 Anthony: This is why living in Catholic community is so helpful; our surrounding "culture" is directly contrary to each of the family members he raises here to our attention.  Community reinforcement of Catholic themes is important.   01:16:21 Ren: Though Climacus takes things even farther by assigning familial relations even to the virtues, paragraph 15 reminds me of this writing of St. John Kronstadt: "When you are praying alone, and your spirit is dejected, and you are wearied and oppressed by your loneliness, remember then, as always, that God the Trinity looks upon you with eyes brighter than the sun; also all the angels, your own Guardian Angel, and all the Saints of God. Truly they do; for they are all one in God, and where God is, there are they also. Where the sun is, thither also are directed all its rays." No matter what one’s vocation, it seems a kind of loneliness and isolation in this world is always a part of it, for the Christian, and thus so many of the Fathers give advice seeking out the invisible, heavenly community to combat it.   01:19:36 Ashley Kaschl: I think this detachment is harder than believing that the Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ 😂😬   01:20:06 Ambrose Little, OP: (Sorry, took a while to write, so I got behind the current topic..)   In my Dominican circles, we often talk about evangelization. It is absolutely crucial, I think all of us can agree, but there is remarkable disagreement on the best way to go about it.    Some folks say that simply “speaking the Truth” is the decisive means to win souls. Others say simple accompaniment. Most know intuitively there is some truth in both, but I find folks keen to argue as if one way is, effectively, the only way, while the other won’t work at all—and they can get quite agitated about it. But it’s a matter of emphasis—different folks have different gifts, and more importantly, we need to be sensitive in each and every situation and listen for the Spirit’s guidance.   01:20:10 Ambrose Little, OP: Folks of “action” pay that lip service, but when pressed, they seem to think we can’t “just” do that. It can’t be “that simple”; they get antsy. Prayer just “isn’t enough.” But I return to the Old Testament—Israel often being a superb type of the individual faith journey. *Every time* Israel (and/or some leader) tried to go on their own, doing what seemed right and wise to them—even with good intentions, it failed, sometimes spectacularly.    I see what seems to be _so much_ damage done in the Church and _to our Christian witness_ by folks who just can’t not “let their light shine,” though it seems to me it’s more of that spectacular failing, because they don’t wait on the Spirit. If they did, then we’d see the fruit of the Spirit made manifest. But more often than not, we don’t.    Waiting on the Lord in prayer, being silent, living in that “exile,” increasingly seems to me to be the Way. Let action, if it is needed, come from that.   01:20:50 Rachel: That is why I put my hand down all the time! I am so behind. :)   01:21:58 Rachel: That is so true.   01:24:36 Eric Williams: Some people embracing brutal honesty are more interested in the brutality than the honesty. That's why my spider sense tingles and I get anxious when some people pontificate about boldly and loudly proclaiming the Faith to secular society. I think a lot more of us should embrace silent and hidden holiness than should attempt evangelization or apologetics.   01:24:56 Eric Williams: (Sorry. Got behind trying to type on my phone.)   01:25:37 Ambrose Little, OP: Much more concise than me, Eric! 🙂   01:25:40 Cindy Moran: Thank you, Father!   01:25:45 Ryan Schaefer: Thank you!   01:25:47 Rachel: Thank you Father!   01:25:49 kevin: thank you!!!!   01:26:02 Bonnie Lewis: Thank you Father!   01:26:26 Rachel: 6 am here   01:26:31 Cathy: Prayers   01:26:34 Rachel: 🙏🏼   01:26:39 Eric Williams: It's not often I'm called concise, Ambrose ;)   01:26:39 carolnypaver: We will, Father. God bless you in your transition.   01:26:46 Sheila Applegate: prayers!   01:27:55 Art: Thank you Father!  

The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XXI, Part II

Tonight we picked up with Hypothesis 21. One is not to reveal the thoughts of the heart and the mind or one’s temptations to others indiscriminately. Rather, we are to seek out those who have the gift of discernment and experiential knowledge. Only those who are engaged in spiritual warfare, who know their own minds and hearts well can speak to the struggles of others. Much damage can be and has been done by those who set themselves up as teachers of the faith and the spiritual life and yet not living it themselves in any measure. What we are to look for in an elder are the particular gifts of the Spirit that arise from living the gospel fully; humility, repentance, obedience, tenderness gentleness, charity, mercy.  In order for one struggling with their sins and the shame that often accompanies them to find courage to acknowledge them, they need an elder who speaks to them with love; a love that reflects Christ himself. How can we speak of what we do not know? We cannot teach the faith or guide others from a position of power but rather imitate Christ in approaching others in a humble and selfless fashion.   Text of chat during the group:    00:07:57 FrDavid Abernethy: Public   Prayer of St. John Chrysostom before reading spiritual texts.     O Lord Jesus Christ, open Thou the eyes of my heart, that I may hear Thy word and understand and do Thy will, for I am a sojourner upon the earth. Hide not Thy commandments from me, but open mine eyes, that I may perceive the wonders of Thy law. Speak unto me the hidden and secret things of Thy wisdom. On Thee do I set my hope, O my God, that Thou shalt enlighten my mind and understanding with the light of Thy knowledge, not only to cherish those things which are written, but to do them, that in reading the lives and sayings of the Saints I may not sin, but that such may serve for my restoration, enlightenment and sanctification, for the salvation of my soul, and the inheritance of life everlasting; For Thou art the enlightenment of those who lie in darkness, and from Thee cometh every good deed and every gift. Amen.   00:11:04 FrDavid Abernethy: page 170   00:16:56 Tyler Woloshyn: Glory be to Jesus Christ! Good evening everyone.   00:27:02 David Robles: According to the Philokalia the stages of sin/temptation are   00:34:29 Anthony: How do these stages of sin correlate to the Roman distinctions between Imperfections, Venial sins and Mortal Sins?  Or is that too big a topic or a harmful focus on what is evil within us instead of focus on what is good, noble, etc?   00:34:41 Wayne: page?   00:43:25 Josie: "preach and if you have to, speak"   00:56:58 Josie: is there a difference between the evil one hearing the confession of our thoughts in private vs in public? can't he hear them in both cases?   00:57:07 Josie: sorry sent by accident   00:59:28 Anthony: The protection of the mind is maybe the really important problem with social media - as one mindlessly absorbs, one tunes into so many different minds putting themselves out for consumption; it's more indiscriminate than TV since you can get so many channels one right after the other.   01:07:55 Tyler Woloshyn: Some priests are not psychologists nor should pretend to be in the confessional   01:08:23 sue and mark: yup   01:14:26 Josie: so does a confession with a bad priest still give us grace?   01:18:16 Ambrose Little, OP: Yes, if he's ordained and pronounces absolution. Personal qualities don't impede the sacramental grace.   01:28:31 carolnypaver: My question is from section C. What about sharing what we learned in Spiritual direction with one’s spouse, especially concerning children?   01:29:17 carolnypaver: Thank you!   01:29:28 Josie: 1 sec   01:29:31 Josie: typing   01:29:46 Josie: in AA they teach you to tell your story   01:29:51 Josie: to help others heal   01:30:00 Josie: my priest says that's good   01:30:03 Josie: yes   01:34:12 Josie: thank you father!!!!  

The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter III: On Exile, Part II

We began this evening with Step 3 “On Exile.”The connotation of the word, as we discussed, can lead one to think of punishment or being removed from the things that are needed or loved. However, as we make our way through the step we begin to see that exile is a path to freedom. It is a gradual turning away or separating oneself from the world in order that one might become inseparable from God. At the heart of exile is a deep desire for God; the longing of the heart that leads one to run toward Him as the source of life. The more we begin to see this truth the clearer it becomes to us that we cling to things with a sense of needing them for meaning or purpose. Exile is so important because it removes that illusion. It shows us that so many things that we have had in our lives hold no lasting promise within them. God is to be the beginning and end of all things for us; and exile gives birth to the kind of detachment that allows us to be ever so confident in what He alone can provide. --- Text of chat during the group:  00:14:06 FrDavid Abernethy: page 63, para. #2   00:14:22 David Robles: Dear Father David, Thank you for inviting me to the meeting today. What step and section?   00:14:58 FrDavid Abernethy: page 63 par 2   00:15:02 FrDavid Abernethy: On exile   00:15:21 Robyn Greco: hi , Hope everyone is well   00:15:23 Sheila Applegate: This time the link said it was a malicious link.   00:15:37 Sheila Applegate: But the zoom one works.   00:16:12 Anthony: Do you spray with Copper Sulfate, Vicki?   00:16:14 David Robles: I'm not using your edition. I have the Holy Transfiguration Monastery Edition.   00:16:30 FrDavid Abernethy: Thats the edition we use   00:16:33 FrDavid Abernethy: 2012   00:17:28 Sr Mary of our Divine Savior solt: Greetings too!   00:18:07 Joseph Caro: fr   00:18:13 David Robles: Mine is 1991. Second edition   00:18:16 Fr. Miron Kerul-Kmec Jr.: I don’t like being a boss! Haha   00:18:45 Joseph Caro: I have been meaning to thank you for the little book you sent awhile ago, but I keep forgetting!  thank you!   00:19:24 David Robles: Step 4 Obedience starts on page 20.   00:23:43 David Robles: Oh I see Exile. Found it   00:31:27 David Robles: Father, would you agree that the intensity and character of the exile for a lay person, a cenobitic monk or a hermit are different levels? Is there an interior exile that is the same for all?   00:32:29 David Robles: St Isaac the Syrian is pretty radical on this, as it is required of a hermit   00:36:04 Anthony: This keeping the "mind" inseparable from God, is he referring to cogitation, a constant stream of thought, or something else?  Is "mind" more like "nous" or heart or merely presence here?  I'm thinking it's not cogitation, since that can be exhausting and since the Fathers remind us our imaginations can willingly and unwillingly be the playground of evil.   00:39:25 David Robles: Dianoia is rational discourse   00:39:32 Sam Rodriguez: St Paul often talks about Sin and Death as Dominions. Where there is a Dominion of Sin, a Dominion of Death. Or, in other words, that we are born into a Lordship of Sin, a Lordship of Death, by virtue of Original Sin. And thus, to be "Delivered" as a Christian, represents being transferred from one Kingdom to another. To be transferred to the Kingdom where Jesus is Lord. And Has Dominion over our lives. Where our lives no longer belong to ourselves. Our bodies no longer belong to ourselves. They have been ransomed at a price. And thus, I'm wondering if this language of Exile is a restatement of a Deliverance process. Where its not that those things in our lives are bad, but that they require His Lordship in order for the Goodness of those Created things to be Received and Revealed and Shared. Being intentional about how we use our time. Or our phones. Or approach our relationships. That we are actively inviting Him to continually Conquer our attraction to those things, Exercise His Dominion over them.   00:45:35 Bridget McGinley: I recently came across the book The Way of a Pilgrim. I am memorized by his desire for separating himself from the active world to desperately seek the concept of unceasing prayer yet he does not enter a monastery and wanders the earth mixing with others. Unceasing prayer is a commandment from God, correct? This concept of exile seems unloving to the Eastern societies especially in our country where human contact is considered charitable. When we want to separate even from family and friends because they distract us we are sometimes accused of lacking "charity" but it is well understood in the Orthodox cultures that this is a great gift. I relate to what Robyn just said.   00:49:34 Joseph Caro: the idea of exile (separation) to keep us inseparable to God reminds me of marriage , where one keeps themselves from others in order to be in union with ones spouse.   00:52:27 Sam Rodriguez: Regarding what Father shared earlier, saying that we should perhaps genuflect before a newly-Baptized baby.... there's a beautiful story of St Louis IX, the French King. After one of his babies was Baptized, the Saint is reported to have joyfully picked up his baby and gave the baby a kiss, right where the baby's heart was, and exclaimed "Hello, Jesus!"   01:01:49 Ren: There is an interesting reversal at play here. Normally, when we say someone is exiled, it is exile from something/some place - a banishment from the good, the community, the kingdom - and the place of exile does not matter at all. Here, however, exile is an action taken for the sake of something, and the place of exile - that place in which the soul remains unseparated from  God - is the only thing that matters.   01:04:42 Ren: Much the same kind of reversal that turns the barren desert into a place of encounter with Life itself!   01:06:18 Erick chastain: how does exile give place to the demon of sensuality?   01:15:09 Ashley Kaschl: Exile being the mother of detachment makes a lot of sense. While we’ve been talking about exile in a way that it leads to greater intimacy with God, a direct confrontation with the passions, and a renunciation of the world, I learned it the other way around: that, almost by proxy, a choosing of Christ over everything else in the day-to-day life, moment by moment, leads one to be exile by default. Is this the thought of the West, that one winds up in exile through intimacy with Christ, while the East encourages exile to find that intimacy with Christ?   01:18:29 Rachel: YES!! Fantastic points!   01:19:31 Rachel: 🙃 wow   01:20:03 Ashley Kaschl: Great. Thank you, Father!   01:22:47 Anthony: Slavonic. ;)   01:24:08 Ren: Hi baby Orlandi!  

The Evergetinos - Vol I, Hypothesis XX, Part VI and Hypothesis XXI, Part I

We continued in our reading of the Evergetinos hypothesis 20 on the importance of revealing one’s thoughts to an elder. The struggle in the spiritual life entails letting go of embarrassment and shame that often plague us - in order that we might freely acknowledge our sins or the thoughts that lead to them. The revelation of these thoughts must be received by elders with the greatest care and tenderness. It is both the perseverance of the one struggling and the patience of the caregiver, the elder, that brings healing. Over and over again we are presented with stories of those who overcome their fear of shame and in their freedom to acknowledge their sin come to experience freedom from the sin itself. Therefore, the fathers hold up before us humility, truthful living; bringing all that is within the mind and heart into the light of Christ. --- Text of chat during the group:  00:15:01 FrDavid Abernethy: page 165 number 3   00:37:30 Daniel Allen: What page are we on?   00:37:45 Ambrose Little, OP: 167   00:37:53 Daniel Allen: Thank you   00:42:38 Ambrose Little, OP: Seems like it's less a question of whether this or that father is particularly learned, but that God wants us to seek the guidance of others as an expression of humility and so, through that, will guide us. We may or may not get a "wise" answer, but the actual experience of that humility is in itself instructive and the Spirit will teach us through that.   00:55:10 Ambrose Little, OP: accompaniment 😄   01:11:19 Ambrose Little, OP: it says he “mentioned casually, and with no desire for correction”   01:12:08 Ren: Yea, it does say “mentioned casually, and with no desire for correction,” and that he had no “commitment, or agony of soul,” so I think the ways in which the brothers approach the elder are radically different. Not just a difference of physical tears.   01:12:33 Ren: Ditto Ambrose   01:14:03 Rachel: To me, tears of this sort seems to be a source of scandal for some in the west. Where they are questioned and looked upon as hysterics or a lack of humility, or lack of trust in God;s mercy, and absence of the peace of the Holy Spirit. I don't actually believe there is a problem with the theology of holy repentance in the west, but that it is a misinterpretation of the different manifestations of true repentance in the spiritual life. It is an idea of what repentance must look like. And right now, that seems to be a knee jerk stoic reaction to the nihilist culture we find ourselves surrounded by. The focus by some faithful on keeping it together in a stoic like manner can even encourage and foster an irreverent confession at best because if one is caught crying then, it may be viewed with suspicion.  I do not mean to criticize but only mean to point out the perception I have encountered ( even in myself) that one must have this stoned faced spiritual life coupled with an alloyed joy we pray against.   01:15:35 Rachel: It makes me wonder, when one realizes, as God reveals Hiimself, to one;s own capacity, that they are a child of God, one would not be able to help but have copious tears of repentance.   01:16:58 Ambrose Little, OP: For a long time I was puzzled by the great saints who would belabor their sinfulness, even with many tears. It sorta came across to me as somehow over the top, maybe too much ("extra” as we say these days). But I think what it is is their greater understanding of the perfect love and goodness of God, the good things God wants to bestow upon us, and how even our lesser imperfections cause us to lose out on the fullness of what God wishes to bless us with.   01:18:10 Eric Williams: I suspect that tears of repentance would be regarded as foreign to a sense of "romanitas".   01:18:39 Rachel: Well, when in Rome. Sigh   01:20:13 Eric Williams: I don't say that approvingly. ;)   01:22:21 Rachel: I just want to point out that when one is truly striving, by the grace of God, even and especially tears are brought before the Lord. I mean to say that one doesn't relish in crocodile tears when one truly desires to please God.   01:23:12 Ed Havrilla Jr.: The woman who wept at the feet of Jesus, washing his feet, was forgiven and freed of her sin.   01:25:01 Miron Kerul Kmec: Thank you!   01:25:01 Rachel: Thank you father and everyone.   01:25:17 Rachel: Yay!   01:25:18 Maple(Hannah) Hong: Thank you!  

The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter Two: On Detachment, Part II and Chapter Three: On Exile, Part I

Superb group tonight!  Thank you all so much for the wonderful comments and questions on two very challenging steps. Synopsis: We continued this evening reading Step 2 on Detachment and  the beginning of Step 3 on Exile. Saint John makes it very clear to us that detachment from the things of this world and seeing ourselves as living in exile are rooted not in a hatred of the world or of others but rather in our desire for the perfect love of Christ.  Our passions draw us back again and again to the sickness of our sin. Even when we have left many things behind we can feel a very tangible pull back to them. Therefore, St. John tells us that we must embrace Christ with an unconditional and absolute love and devotion; as He has given his love unconditionally and without limit.  All things begin and end with love. Our asceticism, all of our disciplines, must be rooted in this love otherwise we will find ourselves isolated from others and from God. Even the monks who embraced the deepest solitude of the desert understood that they did so as part of the body of Christ; that the embrace of deep solitude and silence brought them to a greater intimacy with every other person and allowed them to see the action of God within the world and creation.  The break from the world of which these first three steps speak is meant to allow us to run freely and swiftly toward Christ, our Beloved. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:11:31 Sharon: When I tried to log into the link at the top of the email, it wouldn’t log in saying that you were in session with Evergetinos. The link at the bottom did work, obviously!   00:12:01 Sharon: Obviously because I’m here! That wasn’t meant to be snarky!   00:14:06 Rachel: me too. PC   00:14:29 Bonnie Lewis: I always have to use the bottom link.  No biggie   00:14:29 Sheila Applegate: mine did not work. android phone.   00:14:33 Debra: Sharon, I got a warning saying the top link was a Threat! Ooooo So I logged in with the bottom link too   00:14:36 Sheila Applegate: said unavailable.   00:21:01 Debra: Our Diocese 'moved' the Ascension to Sunday ::eyeroll::   00:21:23 Ashley Kaschl: Same   00:32:36 Sam Rodriguez: I'm reminded here of a quote by then Cardinal Wojtyla: "Freedom is the means, Love is the end." Our culture often confuses our understanding of Freedom by defining it as "freedom to" (do this or that) as opposed to "Freedom from" (Sin and our appetites, etc). And that we lose sight of the fact that our Freedom is brought to Perfection in Love. And that is it's very purpose. The Saints in Heaven still retain their Freedom. They have Freely chosen Love for all Eternity. And therein lies the relationship between this detachment, this Freedom of Heart, and our Call to Love. It seems to me that one could think of Freedom as *the medium* through which Love travels, just as a wave may travel through a medium. If we seek to grow in Love, it seems that, what's needed, is more to clear the way for Love to Move Within us and Through us, precisely by seeking this Freedom of Heart   00:33:50 Josie: wow   00:34:00 Sr Mary of our Divine Savior solt: double wow!   00:36:24 Debra: Who's going to follow ^^that^^   00:39:44 Anthony: If this life is not for all, but for a comparative few, why is the monastic life presented as "if you want to obey Christ, completely detach and be a monastic?"   00:44:34 Josie: Is it possible that the solitude can lead to a kind of self centeredness perhaps in some kind of people? I understand that the focus on love is the thing that keeps a person safe from the danger, but what is love in this spiritual sense, with very little concrete manifestations (like others to serve or even to forgive) ? Is love in this case a focus on God? Contemplation?   00:44:45 Josie: sorry I hit send by accident   00:51:17 Josie: but it's also not simply a focus on self and becoming  "perfect", right?   00:57:10 Anthony: garlic, leeks   00:57:15 Ren: Cucumbers!   01:08:51 Sam Rodriguez: Regarding this, something I've found helpful to try to be grounded in is this: If it's good, God gets the credit.  I can only take credit for my mistakes. lol   01:15:40 Anthony: Maybe some of the self will and desire to propose oneself as great in an area is a symptom of a demonic attack on a person's worth - a subtle and constant message "you are worthless.   01:21:09 Ashley Kaschl: If this isn’t very coherent....I’m sorry. 😂   01:21:12 Ashley Kaschl: This reminds me of something in “Imitation of Christ” by Thomas á Kempis. That when we suffer, we should remember that we are “on probation” and that we shouldn’t rely on or place our hope in the world, nor seek to justify ourselves to the world who won’t always understand. I think that Catholics, who are on fire for the Lord or who are firmly in their vocations, run up against the temptation to not be misunderstood by the world, to not offend when teaching the Truth. It’s as if the temptation of vain glory today tries to be popular and holy, which is antithetical to the spiritual life.    Anyway, the rest of the quote goes: “It is good for us sometimes to suffer contradiction, to be misjudged by men even though we do well and mean well. These things help us to be humble and shield us from vainglory. When to all outward appearances men give us no credit, when they do not think well of us, then we are more inclined to seek God Who sees our hearts. Therefore, a man ought to root himself so firmly in God that he   01:21:43 Ashley Kaschl: will not need the consolations of men.”   01:22:56 Sam Rodriguez: GREAT points, Ashley   01:26:10 Ambrose Little, OP: There is a flip side of that, too, and I think we have to be careful both ways. We can enjoy being counter-cultural and want to in a sense stick it to the “world” to show just how different we are. In that way, we are risking a kind of pride that we're better and want to show it off by being combative unnecessarily.   01:26:51 Ashley Kaschl: Yes 💯 👆   01:28:10 Rachel: lol   01:29:35 Rachel: Thank you!   01:29:48 Anthony: cookie   01:29:53 Ashley Kaschl: Thank you, Father! Good to see you!   01:30:19 Cindy Moran: Thank you Father...great session!   01:30:20 Bonnie Lewis: Thank you Father David. Happy to have class tonight! 01:30:21 Debra: I'm on Brave, with Avast...and Avast thinks the shortl ink is a threat   01:30:23 Cathy: Thank you Father! Prayers   01:30:33 sue and mark: good night and be blessed  

The Evergetinos - Vol I, Hypothesis XX, Part V

Thanks to everyone who participated in tonight's group on The Evergetinos.  As always it is a privilege and joy to sit at the feet of the Fathers with you. Synopsis: We continue our reading this evening of Hypothesis 20 on the revealing of one’s thoughts to an elders. Again and again we are taught by the Fathers that this is the path to true healing for us. It is when we keep our thoughts secret, when we hide them, when we lie about them, that the devil gains a greater foothold in our lives. We are warned that God is not mocked for he sees all things and into the depths of the heart. So we are to never lie. In humility, we are to seek forgiveness and to acknowledge our thoughts, our temptations, any concerns, our desires, or even simple thoughts to our elders. When we do this our heart is also open to the Grace and action of God. The moment that we acknowledge the truth is the moment a flood of Grace comes upon us.  It is then that the demon is cast out. St Paul tells us: "Take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ." It is our good fortune to have the Fathers to show us the path by which we can do this. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:12:23 FrDavid Abernethy: The Evergetinos   00:12:47 FrDavid Abernethy: Center for Traditional Orthodox Studies   00:14:18 Fr. Miron Jr.: yes we are   00:14:28 Fr. Miron Jr.: she is tired of me   00:14:49 FrDavid Abernethy: page 163   00:15:05 FrDavid Abernethy: Letter D   00:16:14 Debra: Do we need to re-sign up?   00:16:37 Josie: are we allowed to send father questions outside the group?   00:16:48 FrDavid Abernethy: yes   00:16:49 Ren: Philokalia.link/evergetinos_signup   00:17:02 Ren: Philokalia.link/climacus_signup   00:17:22 Josie: how do we reach you father? which email?   00:17:24 Ren: philokaliaministries@gmail.com   00:17:40 FrDavid Abernethy: dabernethy@gmail.com   00:18:13 Sarah Kerul-Kmec: hahaha   00:24:17 Debra: {Not raising my hand...I was shooing my dog away}   00:37:33 joannedavids: This is enlightening.  Very helpful.  Thank you, Fr.   00:44:31 Josie: were the fathers able to distinguish between evil thoughts that came from the evil one and those that came from their own thoughts and hearts? if so how?   00:45:12 Ambrose Little: This was before mass marketing. LOL 😄   00:46:54 Josie: thank you   00:53:12 Ren: The thought presented in the second to last sentence - that telling (thoughts) is equal to rejecting - is really fascinating. Also interesting to think about when they are what you might consider “good thoughts.” By sharing them with the Abba you are showing a willingness to submit all - the good and the bad - to the wisdom of an elder. To reject all for the sake of humility, of truth, and obedience. Sometimes even thoughts that seem very good might not be good for you at the time, or might not actually be good at all.   00:54:35 Josie: it's kiind of beautiful that God made it so that our salvation in interlinked with others in so many ways...   01:11:10 joannedavids: “Can’t see the forest for the trees.”   01:20:22 Ren: Links for the groups:   01:20:24 Ren: Philokalia.link/evergetinos_signup
Philokalia.link/climacus_signup   01:20:43 Ren: Business email: philokaliaministries@gmail.com   01:20:44 Fr. Miron Jr.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNMONMxs61g&t=3467s Fr. Davids Homily 29min  

The Evergetinos - Vol I, Hypothesis XX, Part IV

Text of chat during the group:  00:28:07 Josie: Does the first monk who said that he wanted to trust in God in the solitude of the desert demonstrate to us that God won't save someone who is alone or that this isn't the way that we approach the idea of complete trust in God? The context of my question being the mantra that we should trust only and fully in God and only he can help us.   00:29:51 Josie: So being completely alone isn't a sort of extra trust in God?   00:33:14 Anthony: Even in a non-monastic setting, being alone, outside of accountability to family and community, opens the mind to lots of thoughts or evil suggestions.  And a person can be alone in this sense either literally solitary or in a crowd like a college.  People can be severely tried when solitary in these senses.  There's something in Ecclesiastes that Father quotes, about walking alone, when you fall, who can help?  When you are with others they are even a preventative to falling.   00:33:36 Anthony: other people are encouragement to the heart.   00:45:18 Josie: is it weird to reveal our thoughts rather than actions and sins in the confessional?   00:45:33 Anthony: On a theological or social-theological note, this destructive sense of obedience - as I understand it, comes from Jansenism.  A Catholic Calvinism...and Calvinism focused for some reason on God's election, no place for a free love, it seems to me.   00:48:21 Ren: It is so powerful to compare the image of one who commands obedience put forward by Christ - a shepherd whose voice is followed, who carries those who are not strong enough to walk; one who stands in the midst of their followers as one who serves - to what you put forward just now - a hammer who drives others into a exact place by sheer force. Wow. Really amazing to reflect on.   00:53:45 Forrest Cavalier: μεγάλε   00:56:45 Ren: Satan - the relentless bartender :-D   00:57:42 Tyler Woloshyn: Reminds of the classic cartoon villain who keeps getting foiled by the virtuous protagonist.   01:04:29 Ren: I love this story so much. One of my favorites in the book so far.   01:04:40 Josie: me too   01:04:45 Ashley Kaschl: Same. It’s so good.   01:06:00 Josie: father does fasting help with the psychological temptations or only physical temptations of the body? hope this q makes sense   01:09:40 Tyler Woloshyn: We know that these texts were written in a different technological era.  Fasting seems to become more of a battle today for lay, clergy, and monastic alike given technology.  Temptations and challenges to fasts can be magnified even more now then they were in the age of the Fathers.  The devil does not need to walk down the road here, he can be at the tip of one's fingers with screen time.   01:10:37 Josie: someone said on Twitter "the Lord gives the solution then he allows the problem"   01:12:11 Josie: he was quoting a Rabbi i think, and was talking about the internet   01:12:46 Anthony: I think what matters is what flask you drink from - or don't.  Since 2018, the Catholic news has been consumed with obkective wrongs, which exist, but can become consumptive: 2018-2019: sex scandal. 2019, Pachademon in Vatican. 2020-2022, election , Great Reset and covid.  2022, Ukraine.  The imbalance and fixation is real but can be a poison to imbibe and gets in the way of classic spiritual food and drink.  But maybe we can turn this to our good   01:14:26 Anthony: and being one oriented to fixing social problems, this negative world tone affected my spiritual life.   01:17:06 Rachel: lol   01:17:55 keynote: Thank you Fr.!!   01:18:02 Josie: thank you father   01:18:07 Rachel: Thank you!   01:18:15 Tyler Woloshyn: Good night and God bless!   01:18:21 Sheila Applegate: Thank you!  

The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter Two: On Detachment, Part I

One of the participants in tonight‘s group on the "Ladder of Divine Ascent" described St. John’s teaching on Detachment as a “mic drop moment.”  The psychological insight and the understanding of the fickleness of the human mind and the wiles of the ego are presented to us in such an unvarnished fashion that there is no denying the truth of them.   Yet – there is something in this that is incredibly uplifting to the human heart. The truth though difficult to hear and even more difficult to embrace is liberating and offers freedom. To have a first taste of this in these paragraphs on Detachment is something wonderful. We begin to see that the monks were leaving behind everything within the world not because they hated the world or hated others; but because they were drawn there by He who is infinite and absolute Love. Within the human heart is an urgent longing for what God alone can offer. In Him we come to see the meaning of our own lives and who we are. We step into Reality. And even though this may be very difficult and even though we may want to avoid it more often than not, if we allow ourselves to be drawn by the Lord, allow Him to take us by the hand and lead us into the truth of His Life and the reality of His Love -  what an indescribable joy comes over the mind and heart. --- Text of chat during the group:  00:02:28 Lita's iPhone: Happy to be joining you all! I’m nursing my newborn so I’ll be without video 😊   00:02:37 FrDavid Abernethy, CO: welcome!   00:03:04 Ashley Kaschl: LITA! 🙌🏻   00:05:26 Robyn Greco: hi Father, Hi everyone   00:08:34 Carol Nypaver: May the fourth be with you!   00:25:49 Joseph Caro: The nuns in the movie Sister Act might have profited from a reading of Climacus!   00:30:20 Ren: I am particularly moved by the insight at the end of the last paragraph, which states that we can be tempted to disparage those in the world in order to avoid despair. Fascinating that, not possessing the faith and love necessary to find value in our life in Christ, we can turn to disparagement of others in an attempt to build ourselves up. I feel this happens a lot in our day.   00:33:58 Josie: so this is why the "why" behind detachment is so important..   00:35:11 Sam Rodriguez: Some phrases here that come to mind are "I must decrease so that Jesus may increase." Or that "It is not I who live but Christ who lives within me." That we are emptying ourselves of self, yes, but we are emptying ourselves unto the Fullness of Him. And thus, if He Within us, while Living Through us, Calls us out into the world for a Mission, then that's radically different from the Enemy shaming us for not following Him the way the Enemy says that we should, during an attack. Because, if rightfully lived, it is He Who Is Stepping into the world, through our Yes to Him. Our Yes to Him Continuing His Incarnation Through our Yes, even if it will inevitably be within the context of our own personal brokenness. Could be in the Desert. Or the "Desert" of the city. Or in the concrete realities of a Present Moment, where there is a Call to Radical Love, whatever that Moment, that Call might look like. It belongs to Him, not us. Just as *we* belong to Him, not ourselves.   00:46:23 Robyn Greco: ouch   00:49:40 Debra: What?! You mean monastic life isn't all incense and Gregorian chant...gardening, and making coffee, and beer?   00:49:53 Ashley Kaschl: 😂😂   00:50:50 Robyn Greco: wow...6 is what those of us today would call a mic drop moment. no beating around the bush and ever so true   00:54:44 Carol: can't help comparing this to the adoration and attention an expectant mother receives vs. the relentless hidden self-sacrifice of new parenthood   01:03:09 Lilly: One should be very mindful of their inner struggles and not enter monastic life to ‘escape’   01:04:26 Anthony: "Monastic" and "curmudgeon" are two distinct and different modes of life.   01:10:39 Robyn Greco: lol   01:11:30 Robyn Greco: You Father? a curmudgeon? I don't believe it.....🤣   01:11:42 Debra: 😆   01:12:26 Erick chastain: honestly I seem curmudgeonly when everyone around me is saying obscene things and I have to tell them that they are doing wrong.   01:13:07 Robyn Greco: I have to go, dog needs her insulin shot. Thank you Father, see you all next week   01:14:37 Lita's iPhone: Thank you!   01:14:44 Cindy Moran: Thank you Father!!   01:15:05 Bonnie Lewis: Thank you Father!!   01:15:06 Josie: thank you  

The Evergetinos - Vol I, Hypothesis XX, Part III

The wisdom of the Fathers and the essential and fundamental elements of the spiritual life that they present us with is valuable beyond expression. Whether novices in the spiritual life or having struggled for many years, one is given a precious gift in reading the Evergetinos! Synopsis:  We picked up once again this evening with Hypothesis 20 on heeding the advice of the elders and the importance of revealing one’s thoughts without embarrassment or shame. How beautiful it is when an elder has such compassion and love (as well as patience) to help those in his charge to set before God all of their thoughts and sins. What a blessing it is when you have one who is willing to wait even years, assisting you in the spiritual life, helping you to trust ever more fully in the power of grace and in the depths of God’s mercy. The Evil One seeks to do nothing but undermine this trust in God and in one’s elder. Even when we are tortured by our sins or our thoughts and temptations we often remain silent; because the evil one convinces us how shameful such thoughts might be. The closer we get to speaking them the more he seeks to make us question the value of doing so. The father’s counsel on this is incredibly valuable. It reveals to us the wisdom of God and how it overcomes the cunning of the Evil One. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:18:25 Josie: When we have thoughts that we don't identify with the “inner self” or “inner man” but rather as false self, are we meant to 1) engage them in order to dismantle them at the root and deal with what part of us causes or wants to believe them, OR alternatively 2) do we simply ignore them/reject them as false and just re-center ourselves?   00:21:25 Tyler Woloshyn: This brings to mind the Psalmist when he speaks about in Psalm 136 (LXX) to deal with those sins, passions, vices by dashing them against the rock. To dash them against the Rock of Christ early on rather than much later.   00:23:27 Tyler Woloshyn: (I know it is a controversial psalm, but blessed are the monastics for explaining the meaning behind that psalm.)   00:34:15 Tyler Woloshyn: This story is very interesting when someone is held by passions, but how can one relate to those to struggle with scrupulosity in their confession?   00:45:04 Josie: it's ok you answered thank u   00:49:17 iPad (10)maureen: Is it much like Doctor ? You can have a cancer and not Know it.   00:49:49 iPad (10)maureen: The earlier one find a hidden illness you can recover.   00:52:55 Rachel: I can top that but in my humility will refrain   00:56:09 Anthony: These elders - are they experienced, mature Christians, or is Elder in these stories here the equivalent or presbyteros or sacerdotale - a priest?   00:57:01 Forrest Cavalier: The greek is Ό Γέρων   00:57:13 Forrest Cavalier: The old/wise one.   00:57:17 Anthony: Thanks, Forrest   00:57:18 Ambrose Little, OP: That’s Greek to me.   00:57:19 Anthony: James   00:58:56 Anthony: Liberty University in the early 200's encouraged accountability partners and each dormitory hall had a supposedly mature student to be a spiritual leader   00:59:04 Anthony: 2000s   01:01:06 Rachel: I bought that book but have not read it!   01:01:29 iPad (10)maureen: Name of the book ?   01:01:29 Josie: me 2   01:01:41 Ren: A question about confession: In a situation where a certain sin has really taken root, and one finds it difficult even to resolve to try and amend one’s behavior,  perhaps even resistant to change, what recourse does one have? The thought comes to my mind that is is sacrilegious to go to confession not hoping or firmly intending to change, but it you can’t go to confession, what can you do? Are you just a lost cause?   01:02:49 Debra: Wouldn't going to confession provide the graces to help make that change?   01:04:10 Lilly: Orthodox Psychotherapy -author?   01:04:36 Anthony: Ren, I think Nietzsche actually has an important thing to say here - exert the will - not to power, but for our good. ;)   01:04:51 Sawyer: Confessing that lack of desire to change can sometimes bring great grace in itself.   01:07:14 Anthony: Lilly: https://store.ancientfaith.com/orthodox-psychotherapy   01:07:29 Lilly: Thank you   01:08:50 Forrest Cavalier: Psalm 22   01:09:05 Forrest Cavalier: My God why have you abandoned me   01:10:30 Anthony: Well FOrrest threw it out in a Cavalier manner. ;^)   01:11:10 Josie: seems God is always several steps ahead of us and there is always some level of darkness in the spiritual ;ife i think..   01:13:50 Ambrose Little, OP: Glad you became yourself again.  

The Evergetinos - Vol I, Hypothesis XX, Part II

In our reading of the Evergetinos, we picked up with Hypothesis 20 “On Obedience and Listening to the Advice of Elders.”  We are presented with the story of one monk, Iakovos, who was filled with impertinence and sought to place himself above others as a spiritual guide; this despite his lacking the fruit or obedience in his own life. The darkness and the trials of this monk grow deeper and deeper. The more resistant that he is to the guidance of others the more that the spirit of darkness takes hold of him. Then, in his moment of greatest weakness, the Enemy attacks him in such a way that he is overcome with a flood sinful thoughts. Taking matters into his own hands, rather than humbling himself before his Elder or before God, he mutilates himself. It is only the meekness and the compassion of the Elder that aids this monk in his darkness. Saint Savvas was able to apply a healing balm on every occasion of disobedience. Over and over again he applies the necessary remedy and offers intercession on behalf of his spiritual child.  The vivid imagery in this Hypothesis is meant to draw us into a deeper and more rich understanding of obedience and its importance for the spiritual life. Our willfulness can run so deep that we find ourselves wrapped in delusion. Left to ourselves we are capable of the worst. We can betray ourselves as well as God. May God in His mercy guide us along the path of repentance and give us the grace and healing of obedience. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:04:55 Mark: Some snow later tonight in MN   00:08:33 Lilly: Hello Fr. Blessed to be back! Happy Easter everyone!   00:17:31 Tyler Woloshyn: This kind of reminds me of the career centric mentality that Pope Francis have warned clergy against. Clergy trying to obtain monsignor or mitred archpriest status.   00:35:44 Anthony: When you take aptitude tests, clergy is considered just another job for people who like to help people. But a religious vocation is different than a career.   00:41:14 Forrest Cavalier: He cried out to his neighbors too late.   00:42:20 Ren: Is Iakovos’ failure to reveal the thoughts to an elder, and his extreme action, another manifestation of arrogance?   00:43:54 Tyler Woloshyn: It seems very relevant as it shows what happens in those instances where people who say need accountability partners if you will do not have the courage to admit their weakness and seek help.   00:45:06 Josie: For our own days, is it advisable to admit these kinds of things in the confessional? (Even if sometimes this isn't exactly a confession of a sin but thoughts/temptations)   00:45:13 Anthony: Is the finalty of the mutilation the problem?  Other saints ran into thickets to hurt their bodies, and they are saints.   00:45:42 Forrest Cavalier: You quoted St. Philip Neri in the past: "In the warfare of the flesh, only cowards gain the victory; that is to say, those who fly."   00:46:41 Tyler Woloshyn: "Fly you fools." Gandalf.   00:47:28 Debra: Tyler, you are not the only 'nerd' lol   00:47:36 Ren: The nerds: Tyler, and everyone who got the joke :-D   00:48:48 Tyler Woloshyn: Glad that we are in good company. :)   00:50:34 Tyler Woloshyn: Post-Lenten shout out to the Life of St. Mary of Egypt.   00:50:38 Anthony: OK, is our goal then to walk about in life with a serene sould, and not be bothered by any temptation of body or mind, not distressing ourselves, but letting it pass?   00:54:07 Forrest Cavalier: There is a connection to obedience mentioned in this story: he did not obey the monastic rule against self mutilation.   01:05:05 Ren: On the topic of penance, I find that penance, among other things, is valuable in revealing that extent to which a true spirit of repentance as been fostered in the heart. When I embrace my penance and perform it soon after confession I am eager to apply spiritual medicine to my soul. Often, however, I am reluctant to accept penance, anxious about what the priest will give me, and am slow in performing it. Then, it is revealed to me that the spirit of repentance really hasn’t been fostered well in my heart   01:06:42 Forrest Cavalier: The consequences in this story were more lenient than the Old Testament law: Num 15:30-31 But anyone who acts defiantly,e whether a native or an alien, reviles the LORD, and shall be cut off from among the people. For having despised the word of the LORD and broken his commandment, he must be cut off entirely and bear the punishment. Dt 18:20 But if a prophet presumes to speak a word in my namel that I have not commanded, or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.   01:08:38 Tyler Woloshyn: I felt the part where St. Savvas mentioned to Iavokos that if he could not manage a pot of beans he could not manager a monastery. It is simple yet very enlightening.  God gives us so many graces and gifts, yet at times I know where I can do much better and not looking to throw out those pot of beans when frustration over life goals or discernment does not work out immediately.  Humility is a very wonderful thing.  Even the smallest of actions can be teaching moments.   01:10:36 Debra: If you can't do the time, don't do the crime   01:10:50 Carol Nypaver: 👍🏻   01:12:42 Ren: Iakovos does seem like a bit of a hopeless case. I wonder if his quick death after this last act of repentance was not an act of mercy on the part of the Lord. Take him out before he can screw up again   01:14:24 Tyler Woloshyn: Will never look at a pot of beans in the same way. Will think of St. Savvas from now on.  Especially going through a discernment process.   01:14:59 Anthony: I'd like to see us Catholics build on the theme of St. John Damascene, repentence is turning away from unnatural living and towards the life God intended for us.  That is a kind of repentence that I could more easily understand, instead of the "afflict yourself" meaning that is perennially popular among Catholics in different rites.   01:16:50 Erick Chastain: "but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection" 1 cor 9:27   01:19:35 Ashley Kaschl: It’s kinda long. Sorry 😂 I have thoughts.   01:19:38 Ashley Kaschl: Some of these holes Iakovos has dug himself, even to the severity of mutilating himself and being cast out of his community, are reminding me of the reflections of St. Bernard of Clairvaux on the Song of Songs, specifically the kisses prior to “let him kiss me with the kiss of his lips”, which to the angels and Saints seems to be an offensive desire. Like Iakovos wanting for more than he is currently trustworthy of.    It is for this reason that St. Bernard goes into the prior kisses: namely the kiss of the feet of Christ. That Iakovos would have to humble himself under the instruction of Savvas, and return to the feet of Christ to kiss His wounds for the realization of the cost of his sins, and then extend his arm up, that Christ might draw him upwards so that he could eventually kiss his hands, entering into the life of virtue and friendship with Christ, hence the fruit of reparation.   01:24:15 Rachel: Thank you   01:24:38 Tyler Woloshyn: Good night everyone. God bless!  

The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter One: On Renunciation, Part VII

Thank you one and all who participated in tonight's group. Your comments brought to life the already powerful writing of St. John Climacus in an extraordinary way! Synopsis: This evening we read the final four paragraphs of Step One of the Ladder “On the renunciation of the world.”  Climacus emphasizes the importance of letting the beginning of the spiritual life be good and strong so that the end of our lives may correspond to the start. To begin well is to end well. Thus, we want to begin the spiritual life with zeal and fervor for the Lord and without a fear of mortifying the flesh or depriving oneself. Lack of courage can mask itself as prudence and so prevent us from engaging in the ascetical life. As one Saint said, “Heaven is not for cowards.“ We are engaged in a spiritual battle and we wage war against principalities and powers who are relentless and seeking to undermine our efforts. Our determination then, to serve Christ, must be unambiguous. Whatever state we find ourselves in we must zealously pursue God and His love. All are called holiness and while we must be discerning about the path forward that we take we must clearly understand that we must invest ourselves more and more each day.  St John also emphasizes the importance of community. There are certain dangers in traveling the spiritual path alone. If one falls -  there is no one around who will pick him up out of despondency. In this regard, St.John refers to the Lord's teaching: “For where two or three are gathered in My name, there I am in the midst of them.”  St. John concludes by asking one question: “Who is the faithful and wise (monk) person?” It is he who has kept fervor unabated until the end of his life and has not ceased daily to add fire to fire, fervor to fervor, zeal to zeal, love to love. It is such a beautiful way to end the first step on renunciation. What we renounce we renounce for one purpose - to free us in order to love God unimpeded. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:08:40 Robyn Greco: Hi Father, Hi everyone. Hope everyone is well this evenng   00:08:52 FrDavid Abernethy, CO: hello Robyn   00:12:53 Sr Mary of our Divine Savior solt: Happy Easter -- Great to be here -- Alleluia   00:13:17 Rachel: Happy Easter!   00:19:33 Anthony: In my opinion, only great love can motivate a person to do what is repugnant - self sacrifice, or even a Cross.  So maybe Love can overcome spiritual sloth.  You  need to find the love, though.  It must be almost tangible, more tangible than self-love or false prudence.   00:22:22 Robyn Greco: 2 small meals and one regular meal, is that really a fast though? it doesn't seem to be   00:24:21 Ren: This is why we should never resent those who enter the vineyard at the ninth hour, so to speak. There are so many great things to be gained by spending one’s youth, and whole life, laboring for Christ.   00:25:55 Debra: What was that book/author again?   00:26:38 Ren: Adalbert de Vogue   00:26:42 Eric Williams: A point worth considering: hundreds of years ago, it was normal to go to bed shortly after sunset, sleep 3 hours or so, get up for maybe an hour, and sleep again for 3 hrs or so. Humans haven't had biphasic sleep since the invention of electric light. Vigils seem less extreme when viewed in light of biphasic sleep.   00:26:49 Robyn Greco: Does St John have any of these spiritual actions for those who are not well in body or does he not get into that? Thank You   00:27:01 Debra: Thank you, Ren   00:28:11 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: Benefits of fasting for the spiritual life:   00:29:07 Andreea and Anthony: I have always been troubled by devotions to saints that self-mutilate and that is exalted as proof of their holiness. Example St. Rose of Lima, a saint from my birth city. What you said about having the right balance between disciplining the body and torturing the body struck a chord with me. What are we to make of these saints?   00:31:09 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: We recognize that everything comes as a gift; Fasting purifies our eating; Fasting calls us to hunger for the Lord; Fasting deepens our sense of hope and expectation; Fasting stirs our repentance and compunction; Fasting controls our desires; Fasting intensifies our prayer.   00:35:15 Eric Williams: "Do not test the Lord, your God." Taking up extreme practices willy-nilly is testing God - a temptation for which Jesus demonstrated refusal.   00:35:50 Sam Rodriguez: Father, you made the distinction between mortifying the bodily passions and spiritual passions. St. John of the Cross represents that division as a progression. For example, in Ascent of Mount Carmel, it's a movement from the "Night of the Senses" (which is more bodily & our sensory engagement) to the Night of the Soul (leading to growth in Faith), then Night of the Memory (growth in Hope) and then Night of the Will (growth in Charity) as a culminating moment to the Journey. Similarly the first 8 chapters of Dark Night of the Soul is concerned specifically with the "spiritual" versions of the Seven Deadly Sins. Which presumably is for those who, if I'm not mistaken, have already passed through the Night of the Senses. If I'm wrong in giving this account, please correct me. But I'm curious whether St. John Climacus and other Desert Fathers would see this "progressive" approach as overstated--that it must all be addressed simultaneously and whether the same would apply for pursuit of the Theological Virtues.   00:37:43 Rachel: And Theresa of Avila! Among others..   00:38:17 Andreea and Anthony: Btw, what page/paragraph are we on?   00:38:31 Ren: Page 59. Paragraph 25   00:38:37 Andreea and Anthony: Thanks!   00:38:49 Rachel: Thank you Sr. Barbara   00:44:36 Ambrose Little: But he's gonna keep sayin it. 😄   00:45:12 carolediclaudio: 😊   00:46:06 Eric Williams: As I said above, vigils were less eye-popping for people - even children - when humans engaged in biphasic sleep (before electric light).   00:46:38 Robyn Greco: Biphasic sleep?   00:46:58 Debra: Robyn....Two distinct sleep periods per night   00:47:07 Robyn Greco: Thank you   00:48:56 Debra: CCD in the 70s...just be kind to each other   00:49:19 Sean: And make a felt banner   00:49:25 Robyn Greco: Do you think that's why we don't really have many saints today?   00:49:50 Debra: Sean...I'm feeling attacked LOL   00:50:10 Robyn Greco: You are a rare breed these days Father. Thankful for you   00:50:18 carolediclaudio: What page?   00:50:35 Carol Nypaver: 59   00:50:45 carolediclaudio: Thanks Carol!   00:51:00 Carol Nypaver: 😍   00:52:16 Ambrose Little: It takes time for canonizations to happen, usually. There are very many processes in progress—the Vatican office that handles this has more than it can handle, and quite regular canonizations of folks even in the last 60 years. And that's just the recognized ones.   00:53:20 Vicki Nichols: Bl. Jerzy Popiełuszko, was martyred in 1984   00:54:00 Debra: Carlos Acutis was beatified in the 2000s   00:55:30 Art: Messenger of the Truth.  Great film on Fr. Jerzy P.!!   00:56:38 Vicki Nichols: yes it is a good film!   00:57:27 Robyn Greco: sadly, today, there are a lot of us left alone in our spiritual walk, we are parched In the desert   00:57:51 Anthony: St. Maximos Skete, Palmyra / Fluvanna County, VA.   01:01:07 Andreea and Anthony: What is meant by this? It sounds like relying on emotions, which are passing. Many times the fire and fervor are just not felt.   01:02:59 Bonnie Lewis: And we must do this each and every day. upon awakening.   01:03:54 Ren: I don’t understand the second to last sentence in paragraph 24. “For you will scarcely find anyone…who is determined to mortify his flesh, although he might deprive himself of many pleasant dishes”? Could you explain this a little more? How is this form of deprivation not a good example of mortification?   01:07:20 Debra: Do you need a spiritual director to do a daily fast?   01:07:26 Debra: oops   01:09:16 Art: To Love Fasting  downloadable PDF  https://archive.org/details/tolovefasting   01:09:40 Carol Nypaver: Thank you, Art!   01:10:06 Debra: Great discussion, I need to go....parish council...blergh Bye!   01:10:44 Sr Mary of our Divine Savior solt: Thank you for the link Art.   01:10:57 Anthony: Yet, food is art.  It is true, good and beautiful - there is a natural law associated with food.  We don't whitewash walls like Puritans do (well, perhaps Carthusians do) but we have and celebrate iconography.  Judicious use of God's gifts within mortification is important.  Beautiful material art can degenerate to kitsch; beautiful food can degenerate to sumptuousness.  But, we LOVE icons and we LOVE food, both made and appreciated judiciously, per natural law and spiritual law.   01:11:18 Art: YW sister!   01:12:24 Anthony: Thanks, Father. :^)   01:14:01 Ren: Norway   01:14:15 Ren: Best. Movie. Ever   01:14:25 Sam Rodriguez: SUCH a great movie   01:14:32 Bonnie Lewis: I just watched the movie last week.  It's a beautiful movie.   01:14:49 Robyn Greco: Whats the name of the movie again? Thank You   01:14:56 Bonnie Lewis: It brought them a love for one another.   01:14:57 Ren: Babette’s Feast   01:15:03 Robyn Greco: Thank you Ren   01:15:06 Anthony: I would LOVE this movie.  Food is a gift we can give to others.   01:15:31 Ren: ““Stand on the edge of the abyss and when you feel that it is beyond your strength, break off and have a cup of tea.” - Fr. Sophrony   01:16:22 Cindy Moran: Great session Fr Abernathy   01:16:25 Bonnie Lewis: Thank you!!!   01:16:42 Mitchell Hunt: Thank you Father so good  

The Evergetinos -Vol I, Hypothesis XX, Part I

This evening we started a new Hypothesis, number 20. The focus is on receiving the advice of the fathers and how important it is not to develop an individualistic approach to the spiritual life. Asceticism can very quickly become something of our own making. Whenever we are guided simply by our own judgment, spiritual practices can very easily lead us into pride. The longer that we are in such a state, the greater the danger of falling into delusion. One who thinks he is above the elders’ or anyone else’s judgment, he who seeks no one else’s counsel, will come to experience the greatest darkness. We are part of the living body of the Church and God has given us that which is most essential for our sanctity. Despite the darkness that we see within the world and sometimes see within the life of the Church, we do not want to lose sight of God‘s Providential care and the guidance of the Spirit. Nor do we want to lose sight of those God has put on our path to help support us and guide us. Such an attitude requires from us an openness to the guidance of the Spirit in our lives. Above all it requires humility. Our path as Christian men and women is distinctly the path of humility, the path of the cross, and so we must never be deluded to the extent that we place our own judgment above others.  In the end such an attitude will eventually lead us to place our judgment above God himself. From such a tragic darkness - we may never emerge. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:16:39 Anthony: Look at the history of Family Radio for a contemporary example.   00:18:33 John White: O felix culpa! O happy carbuncle!   00:18:52 carolnypaver: 🤣   00:22:20 Josie: you said that the reason he fell was because he did not listen to the fathers however we do not have fathers nowadays therefore we also have no one to listen to   00:29:11 Ambrose Little: We have have a great treasure trove of saintly writings to learn from and be disciples to—much more so than in the time of the early desert fathers—and to complement Scripture, and we also have our pastors, our bishops, who often provide contemporary guidance on things that are new and/or relevant to our time that may not have been so previously.  We also can have spiritual friends who can encourage us and build us up—many lay institutes, fraternities, and so forth, as well as less formal spiritual friendships.   00:29:54 Ren: God bless translators!   00:35:11 Ambrose Little: We also have this group! 🙂   00:35:32 Carol Nypaver: 👍🏻   00:35:53 Ren: Yes! And a Father with a very authoritative beard to listen to :-D   00:36:48 Carol Nypaver: “Abba David of the Beard”😇   00:37:47 Anthony: To modify something attributed to Padre Pio:  "If you think I would make a mistake, do you think God would?"  Go out with a good will, be determined to be pliable to God, try to exert right reason, be cheerful & hopeful; God will take care of you, lead you along, bring you to the right people (for your instruction and for you to help), even if not an "elder."  (And beware Jansenism, the scourge of 'traditional' Catholic spiritual formation, especially among French and Americans.  I like a priest-monk friend's praise of peasant spirituality; for me, it fits.)   00:37:56 Ambrose Little: He's amazing. I love all his stuff I've seen (Fr. Cantalamessa).   00:41:14 Anthony: yes   00:43:12 Josie: Anthony do you mean also not to overthink things?   00:43:26 Anthony: that's part of it, Josie   00:43:33 Bridget McGinley: As a wound care nurse, I have seen women come in that have sincerely regretted having breast augmentation procedures due to the consequences of complications and you can see and feel the mark of remorse in them for this vanity. This story about the wayward monk resonates with me because I have seen this exact thing that is written. How do we recognize pride of heart when there are so many paths both good and  bad? Like fasting and prayer life, how do we avoid excesses? How do we know (i.e. signs) that we are being balanced and humble in our spiritual life if we don't have that spiritual father to discuss the details of our lives to?   00:47:53 Bridget McGinley: Thank you Father.   00:53:09 Anthony: Historically, Franciscans rescued Catholics in danger of falling into Catharism and Waledensianism.   01:01:55 Ambrose Little: It seems like we can lose sight of the Providence of God. We can focus on the lessening of a particular kind of spiritual guidance, or particular traditions and pious practices, or particular ways of celebrating the liturgy. But what is God giving us in place of them? How is God calling us to grow and live in our own day? What faith-filled friends has he put in our lives that we overlook or take for granted, who could help us grow? What might we be missing? Surely God is not leaving us without his gifts and the necessary helps we need to live our lives of faith? Are we insisting that God help us in the way we want rather than the way He wants? I think folks here in this group are taking advantage of one of the great gifts God is giving us today.   01:03:59 Rachel: LOL Yep   01:07:04 Ren: These stories prove so perfectly, via negativa, the teachings of the last hypothesis on obedience as the sure path to the virtues (that also protects us from pride). I frequently find myself formulating elaborate prayer rules, being very satisfied with them, and then failing miserably. So, the only thing I got out of it was an hour of pride. It seems that taking one’s spiritual life into one’s own hands is always a very dangerous way and that, unless under the instruction of a director, one should keep to the simple way of the church’s teachings, and its guidance concerning prayer. Nothing more. Nothing “creative”. The spiritual benefits will never outweigh the danger of pride. It reminds me of Philip Neri, and his disciple who insisted on keeping vigil and ended up harming himself permanently.   01:09:09 Ambrose Little: I personally prefer paleo prayer.   01:09:11 Eric Williams: Exodus 90 🙄   01:13:02 Rachel: Simple......lol ..oook   01:13:09 Anthony: Isn't my river in Syria a while much nicer than the dirty Jordan River?   01:13:26 Ambrose Little: Simple but not easy! 😄   01:13:57 Anthony: Master, if the prophet asked you to do something great, wouldn't you have done it?  So Naaman bathed in the simple, dirty Jordan and was a changed man   01:15:03 Ashley Kaschl: I think this individualism we were talking about can also lead to a touch of willful ignorance of certain areas of the faith within groups of people. I’ve encountered a lot of adults who cannot be roused to investigate potentially fruitful areas of the spiritual life because “it isn’t for them” or they “don’t want to go down that road.” There’s a sentiment of “I pray, I love God, and I’m faithful, and that’s good enough for me.” But I think that is a dangerous place to be in the spiritual life, because I don’t think we should ever be “content” with where we are. Individualistic faith seems to sometimes lead to mediocrity, which could also be a subtle symptom of pride; to cling covetously to the spiritual life we’ve “made” for ourselves.   01:17:06 Josie: does anyone know a good online bible study?...   01:17:31 Ambrose Little: Fr. Mike's Bible in a Year is great from everyone I know who’s done/doing it.   01:17:54 Josie: thank you, but i meant i group like this one..?   01:20:15 Ambrose Little: or only pay attention to the bits that agree with what we already think!   01:21:29 Rachel: Thank you   Forrest Cavalier: I wanted to share a connection I made to Hypothesis 20. The topic summary for Hypothesis 20 is in the 1783 edition in greek, translated as"That no man should trust in himself for anything, but should listen to the counsel of the fathers in all things, and should confess the secrets of his heart without concealing anything." But it seems to me that the first few stories are monks cutting themselves off from the goodness of community. And some of it can seem very brutal and harsh, and that is why I am writing. I was also reading this week St. John Chrysostom Homily 12 on Acts. (Next Sunday the reading from Acts is immediately after the story of Ananias and Sapphira. I wondered about Peter's shadow, and the homily covers both stories in Acts and shows that they are integrally connected.) https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/210112.htm I think the ideas in Homily 12 are connected to the stories at the start of Hypothesis 20, and I found this accidentally. We in the modern church do not have too many experiences of people being cast out of community, and maybe we even have frustration that more people are not cast out. But we want it to be medicinal. We want people to be forgiven and reconciled and rejoined into community. As I read the first parts of Hypothesis 20, my gut reaction is difficulty in seeing the stories as being a good model of community discipline. But then I happened to read Homily 12, which makes a strong argument that it is not extreme that prideful people are cut off from goodness, and that their wounding of the community is partially healed by casting them out. Homily 12 says that there was a superabundance of grace in the community after Ananias and Sapphira were cut off from the land of the living, and there would have been no benefit to let them live longer than they did. That's harsh! Yet, the superabundance included even Peter's shadow being salvific, which Homily 12 says was a sign greater than what Christ himself performed, a partial fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy of the greater signs they would perform in his name! And then when I went searching for "pride" in scripture, I found many other Bible passages with similar harsh consequences for being so prideful. (I found these with my search tool, and selected some of them. I included the Mt 25:21 because of the story about the pot of beans, which I think you probably will not get to read tonight, but maybe.) Num 15:30-31 But anyone who acts defiantly, whether a native or an alien, reviles the LORD, and shall be cut off from among the people. For having despised the word of the LORD and broken his commandment, he must be cut off entirely and bear the punishment. Prov 16:2 All one’s ways are pure* in one’s own eyes, but the measurer of motives is the LORD. Dt 18:20 But if a prophet presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded, or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die. Prov 16:4 The LORD has made everything for a purpose, even the wicked for the evil day. Prov 16:5 Every proud heart is an abomination to the LORD; be assured that none will go unpunished. Prov 16:18 Pride goes before disaster, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Mt 25:21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’ 1 Tim 3:6 He should not be a recent convert, so that he may not become conceited and thus incur the devil’s punishment.

The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter One: On Renunciation, Part VI

We picked up this evening with Step One “On Renunciation of the World”. St. John‘s focus is on entering into the spiritual life, the ascetical life, fully. We are not to make excuses out of our past sins or let them become impediments to our engaging in the spiritual battle. Psychologically they can become exactly that. Shame can make us hold back from opening ourselves to God and the healing that He alone offers. Likewise, fear of what lies ahead and the discipline involved can keep us from investing ourselves fully. Rather, we are to respond as if we were called by an earthly king; eagerly leaving everything to go to him and remaining alert lest he should call us day or night. We would never give ourselves over to sloth or cowardice knowing that we would find ourselves under the king’s judgment. Thus, we are to enter into the spiritual life unfettered by worldly concerns. Whether one is a monk or living in the world, one must have God as the beginning and end of all things - the very center of our existence. He must be desired and loved above all things.  If this is true then we will charge into the “good fight” with joy and love without being afraid of our enemies, the demons. They know the movements of the mind and the heart, the patterns of behavior that they observe within us and whether or not we are scared. Therefore, John tells us, we must enter into the battle courageously for no one fights with a plucky fighter.  Naturally St. John begins by focusing on the early moments of the ascetical life. God by design protects the novice in the spiritual life in order to keep him from falling into despondency. He hides the difficulty of the contest. However, if God sees a courageous soul He will allow him to experience conflict and to be in embattled in order that he might be crowned all the sooner. Thus, God will allow us to be tested if it will perfect our love and virtue and if He sees our zeal for Him. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:09:34 Robyn Greco: i could listen to you preach anytime Father, because you're such an excellent teacher   00:18:20 Ren: The number of men who started chuckling just then was pretty fantastic. Caught on camera! :-D   00:18:40 Debra: 😄   00:18:40 Cathy: i was thinking the same   00:24:28 Sam Rodriguez: Have heard it said before “if we don’t make time for prayer, we’ll never find time for prayer.”   00:24:48 Debra: Is removing prayer time, and saying that we are too busy, a sign of spiritual warfare....or 'just' allowing our will to 'win?   00:25:16 Debra: Sorry...I don't know how to do the digital hand lol   00:25:57 Carol Nypaver: Go to “reactions”   00:26:20 Debra: Oh! Thanks, Carol!   00:26:32 Carol Nypaver: 😇   00:26:56 Ambrose Little: Alt+Y on Win; Opt+Y on Mac   00:27:16 Debra: Thank  you!   00:27:23 Carol Nypaver: 👍🏻   00:29:24 Ambrose Little: Did you really go to college if you never pulled an all nighter?? 🤔   00:29:35 Debra: Yes! Fr. D, I've experienced that...a peace when I've pushed through my will, to pray   00:30:19 Vicki Nichols: I never pulled an all nighter either   00:31:05 Carol Nypaver: Same, Vicki.  I can’t function without sleep.   00:38:38 Sheila Applegate: This. Above. Not because I am an asetic but I can't function as a human without 7 hours plus. Carol. :)   00:39:37 Carol Nypaver: In living the Gospel, how do you NOT offend people?   00:44:25 RiccardoO: “You will not be far from the Kingdom of Heaven” has an interesting ring to it. Not far, but not yet in the Kingdom. Am I correct to interpret the list in this paragraph as the starting point? Is there another step that Climacus is not mentioning here, along the lines of the invitation of Jesus to the young rich man, “if you want to be perfect..”?   00:49:16 RiccardoO: Thank you father.   00:50:30 Rachel: LOL Nope, that would be me.   00:53:56 Robyn Greco: Ive lived on anxiety almost all my life but recently when I slow down and give it all to the Lord the fear leaves, literally, its holding onto that,  that is the hard part   00:54:45 Sr Mary of our Divine Savior solt: I heard that the demons can't read your mind.  Is that true?   00:56:35 Debra: I wonder if Fr. Rippenger has talked about whether or not demons can read our minds   00:56:54 Robyn Greco: He has Debra   00:57:38 Robyn Greco: If you search on YouTube Father Rippenger you'll find talks he's done   00:58:24 Robyn Greco: I keep hearing about this "centering prayer" stuff but have no idea what it is   00:59:57 Debra: Robyn, I have one of his books...I went to get it lol   01:00:44 Debra: Yes....a 'little knowledge' is a dangerous thing lol   01:00:53 Robyn Greco: I've been told it's dangerous so I think I'll just keep staying away from it   01:01:34 Sam Rodriguez: Fr Ripperger gives an answer very similar to Fr Abernethy. One element that Fr Ripperger emphasizes is that they can access our memory and feed “thoughts” into our minds (for lack of a better term) and create confusion within us between our own inner voice and theirs   01:01:35 Ren: I love your thought about the problem being our over-reliance on ourselves. If we are weak, we are weak; that is not the problem, because God’s grace can work through that. Fear, and, essentially, the lack of trust in God that it exposes, is the real problem that leaves us vulnerable to demons.   01:03:01 Wayne: Need to attend church Services tonight.. Happy Easter everyone.   01:05:56 Sr Mary of our Divine Savior solt: 🙂   01:08:19 Rachel: If not only other people but demons can read us so to speak in order to attack us and pull us away from God through fear, can it be that when one by grace, little by little comes closer to Christ, in turn,  that person because of their close proximity to Christ can ward off attacks? Where a person is able to discern more easily because they have kept the waters still. I think of Saints like Saint Maximus. Where many were against him and he kept pressing on able to discern and not abandon Christ. ( E   01:08:42 David Robles: Dear Father David, I am an Orthodox Christian in the Patriarchate of Antioch. This coming Sunday is Palm Sunday for us. Next week is Holy Week. I would like to wish everyone a blessed Easter. Christ is Risen! Truly, He is risen! We sing an ancient hymn,   01:09:50 David Robles: Christ is risen from the dead trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs bestowing life. 🙏😀   01:09:54 Carol Nypaver: Easter Blessings, David!🐣   01:10:47 Michael Shuman: Amen, David.   01:11:33 Cathy: Thank you David  Palm Sunday Blessings and have a Holy Lent.   01:11:59 Ashley Kaschl: There’s a good book by the late Fr. Gabriele Amorth called “An Exorcist Explains the Demonic: The Antics of Satan and His Army of Fallen Angels” and it might clear up what demons are able and not able to do. 😁   01:12:02 Sam Rodriguez: When our sufferings and trials seem to pull us farther from God and hurt our relationship with God, is it perhaps our own preconceived notion of what is a “good” thing to happen vs a “bad” thing ultimately the source of that wedge? Given that any sufferings or trials that God Permits, we can trust that He Has Covered them all in a greater Good   01:12:32 Sam Rodriguez: Grace   01:14:23 Carol Nypaver: Thanks, Ashley.   01:14:55 Ambrose Little: St. Paul spoke of something like this as a thorn in his side that he beseeched God to take away, but God said, “my grace is sufficient for you; my power is perfected in your weakness.”   01:15:01 Robyn Greco: Been trying to find a spiritual director for years,  they are,  sadly, a rare breed these days   01:16:35 Robyn Greco: We see across the street, God sees 20 miles ahead of us   01:16:56 Sam Rodriguez: I’m reminded of a prayer that Mother Teresa prayed regularly: “Heavenly Father, if there’s anything I’m doing that’s not your Holy Will, please let it fall apart in front of me.”   01:18:13 Bonnie Lewis: I love that Sam.   01:18:49 Sam Rodriguez: 🙂   01:18:56 Debra: ❤️   01:18:56 Rachel: Yes, lots of baggage affects our vision. Throw it overboard!   01:21:34 Babington (or Babi): Thanks be to God  

The Evergetinos - Vol I, Hypothesis XIX, Part IV

Tonight, I have to say, was one of the most beautiful groups on the Evergetinos that we have had to date. I do not say this lightly given how wonderful the past groups have been; but this hypothesis (19) opens up for us the meaning of obedience in such a way that one begins to understand that it is a virtue to be loved precisely because it draws us into love.  Obedience is therapeutic; it brings about healing for the soul. It place one in a right relationship with God and so heals the wounds of sin. Obedience leads to intimacy; he who does the will of My Father in heaven is my mother, my brother, my sister. We are drawn into the most intimate relationship with a Most Holy Trinity, Christ tells us explicitly, so much so that He and the Father will come to us and serve us when we have been faithful.  Indeed we already know the fruit of this in every celebration in Holy Mass. We need to only ask ourselves: “Who is it that sits at this table and who is it that serves?”  Christ has made himself the obedient One and through His obedience has given us all; nourishing us upon His life and love. Our obedience allows us to respond in kind; it removes every impediment to our giving and receiving love. --- Text of chat during the group:  00:05:53 Rachel: Hola everyone.   00:07:56 Rachel: Road rage?   00:24:45 Ambrose Little: I remember reading St. Francis de Sales recommending that readily assenting to requests, even of our inferiors (e.g., even one's small children), is a kind of obedience. It is submitting our will to that of another.   00:26:23 Sarah Kerul-Kmec: Elder Paisios is a great example of this. giving over his will to a small child in an act of obedience   00:29:11 Daniel Allen: Would it be correct to equate obedience then as laying aside one’s own ego and preference to respond to the need of the other? Not to over simplify the topic but also trying to understand the common theme among the examples presented.   00:30:38 Rachel: It seems in this type of obedience to the reality of the person right in front of you God is not only trying to teach you something but He is offering Himself! This is the perfect example of what St. Maximus just said   00:34:18 Fr. Ben Butler: Yes, agreed. Well said about confession.   00:34:59 Ambrose Little: I think so, Daniel. It's a sacrifice of ego on behalf of another. Easier said than done!   00:35:06 Daniel Allen: Sorry question is above just prior to Rachel’s   00:38:41 Rachel: Wow   00:43:54 Forrest Cavalier: Is there a footnote about the camel in your English translation?   00:51:12 Forrest Cavalier: Marriage vocations are delayed, too.   00:52:16 David Robles: Father David, maybe it would be useful to point out that we do not obey the commandments as an exercise in ethics, or finishing a to do list, a set of rules, a legalistic requirement. For the Fathers , obedience to the commandments is something dynamic, nothing less than our participation in the Life of the Holy Trinity. The commandments are also therapeutic. Following them heals us. Finally we have the promise of the Lord Himself who in the gospel of John tells us, "whoever obeys my commandments is the one who loves Me... And the Lord promises that He and His Father will come into the heart of such a one and dwell in him.   00:55:47 Rachel: Obedience seems to be very closely related to purity of heart.  David Robles just expanded on that point I think.   00:55:52 Rachel: I'm so sorry!   00:57:17 Ambrose Little: John 5:19; 31 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise…. “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.”  John 10:30 "I and the Father are one." Divine union is often seen as the culmination of the contemplative life.   01:02:44 Rachel: What if one ( no this is not pertaining to me) finds  there is a request or advice given by someone that contradicts what their conscience tells them? What if the person is a confessor or spiritual director? For a parent or spouse or friend this seems pretty clear cut but a confessor or spiritual director?   01:02:57 Rachel: LOL   01:04:37 Erick chastain: it is interesting reflecting on obedience after palm Sunday. I found myself wanting to make more sacrifices for Jesus after seeing how much our Lord lowered himself for me.   01:09:12 Ashley Kaschl: Seems like Newman is on the mind, because these paragraphs and sections are reminding me of the last part of a quote by St John Henry Newman,    “Therefore, I will trust Him, whatever I am, I can never be thrown away.    If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him, in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him. If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me. Still, He knows what He is about.”   It seems that obedience is tied up, then, in trust and hope, and that these sections we’re reading demand a sort of stretching of our trust in God’s plan and will for our lives to its limits so that God can show us the depths where we might find joy in our obedience no matter the circumstance.   01:10:02 Ashley Kaschl: Sorry 😂   01:10:24 Carol Nypaver: My favorite.  🙏🏻   01:11:32 Rachel: No, its my favorite! Newman probably loves you more though.   01:12:43 Carol Nypaver: 🙃   01:13:03 Ambrose Little: If we zoom out from seeing the Law as a long list of particular commands and rather as a guidebook to the practice of obedience, then it seems clearer the truth that Christ put forth when He said that He came not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it. For in Him is the completion and perfection of obedience.   01:16:53 Carol Nypaver: Is there anything to be gained by obedience when it is done grudgingly….against one’s conscience?  My son was forced to mask for 2 full years, in seminary, hating it all the while.   01:17:16 Carol Nypaver: 🤪   01:18:28 Forrest Cavalier: Filial piety aids harmonious community, even grudgingly.   01:19:09 Ambrose Little: If we agree with a thing, it is more akin to following our own will than another's.   01:19:24 Carol Nypaver: 😲   01:19:54 Carol Nypaver: Thank you!   01:21:55 Ashley Kaschl: Thanks father!   01:21:58 Sharon: Do you want a correspondence by phone call, email or FB Message?   01:22:04 Rachel: Thank you Father and everyone.  😇  

The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter One: On Renunciation, Part V

As we step further into this first reflection of St. John Climacus on Renunciation, we begin to see how he paints with broad strokes. His intention is that we would begin this journey with a clarity of focus. Our asceticism is to be driven not by our own will or by fear or by hope of reward - but by love.  So often, we can turn the ascetical life into a matter of endurance, or self-punishment rather than a means of healing and drawing us into deeper intimacy with God. Thus, all the images that John uses in this first step call us to let go of our preconceived notions of the spiritual life and of God. We are to allow Him to draw us forward and His Spirit to guide us along the path that fosters our sanctification and salvation.  God wants us to enter this path with zeal and fervor. Love must fuel the fire within the heart that makes us run with swiftness when Christ calls us. We are to run with love and be motivated by desire. God and the pursuit of divine things cannot be set aside anything within this world as comparable in value or importance. God must be the beginning and end of all that we do. We must be ever so careful not to become calculating in our view of the spiritual life and never asceticism as another means of self-help. In fact, the self must be set aside in order that we might constantly gaze upon the face of Christ. It is Love that motivates us and beckons us and it is this Love alone that will bring us to what our heart longs for the most.  --- Text of chat during the group: 00:09:25 Cindy Moran: Good Evening!!   00:09:46 kevinferrick: Yes good eve!!!   00:13:59 Edward Kleinguetl: In a secular culture that is at war with the values of the Gospel   00:23:20 iPad (10)maureen: Sorry it was on by mistake   00:30:12 Bridget McGinley: Wow Father, that insight is profound as with the comparison of the Biblical texts. Thank you   00:30:18 Eric Williams: Stone is a building's foundation. Brick structures are built on top. Should pillars be built on bare earth? I don't know, but my guess is that doing so makes a structure vulnerable to ground eroding underneath. So, we must start our ascent will a solid foundation, for to attempt advanced ascesis too quickly would invite disaster. We might ask ourselves how firm the ground is under our ladders.   00:33:34 Ryan Schaefer: I think it is easy to focus on how much energy we put into putting awareness in Christ, rather than directly focusing on Christ. Does that make sense? Something that I have been thinking about this past week.   00:33:52 Andreea and Anthony: What page/paragraph are we at?   00:34:06 Anthony: 14   00:34:11 David Robles: Father, if a good foundation is Love and Chastity (see #8), and Innocence, fasting and temperance, which take time to learn (see#10), how can we attain to that in the beginning to be used as a foundation? In other writings Love is the summit of the spiritual life. What kind or measure of love do we need at the beginning? How is that love different from the kind of love that is our goal?   00:34:13 Carol Nypaver: 56. 14   00:36:58 Joseph Caro: Wow, I really love your interpretation of #14 Father. I thought at first it was good to build on stones. . .but your interpretation made me notice that the first two people are building structures (a stable dwelling place, either way  -- pillars on bare ground might not be within building codes but it would make a house anyway) whereas the third is running free. That's a strange juxtaposition that is only illuminated by your explanation.   00:37:13 David Robles: Thank you Father. That makes sense!   00:39:47 Eric Williams: I don't mean to belabor the point, but I may have insight as a runner. Attempting to run a race or a hard workout without warming up first could lead to either injury or poor performance. So, this metaphor doesn't strike me as very different from the others.   00:40:49 Sam Rodriguez: We live in a time of celebrity Priests and Catholic speakers that can often engender a cult of personality, self-promotion, and product-mindedness in much of our current catechetical offerings. When one contrasts that phenomenon against what St John Climacus, it seems to point to some concerning implications as to the spirit as to how current and future generation of Catholics might be formed, if not checked   00:41:39 Rachel: This is a pernicious temptation where when one is trying to avoid multiplicity they are in fact focusing too much on self   00:41:39 Sam Rodriguez: *contrasts that phenomenon against what St. John Climacus is saying   00:42:42 Andreea and Anthony: Everyone is needed in the Lord’s kingdom. My wife and I have benefited greatly from Bishop Barron and Fr. Mike Smitz, Fr. Dave Pivonka, etc   00:45:22 Anthony: Simplicity vs multiplicity. It may be better to smoke or drink in peace of heart on one's own porch than to listen to many Catholic teachers on YouTube.   00:46:03 Sam Rodriguez: Oh I agree, Andrea and Anthony. And I'm not saying its intrinsically bad. But I'm saying it *can* be bad... and i'm not pointing to any particular Priest/Speaker... and quickly acknowledge that many are wonderful and holy... but i'm speaking to the aggregate impact that such phenomenon can have to people seeking to give their life to ministry.... the glitz and allure of celebrity can be distracting... and launching a ministry such as that can sometimes rely upon self-promotion, which inherently carries spiritual risk and must be checked...   00:46:33 Andreea and Anthony: Judge not that you may not be judged. We cannot know how God is acting in someone else’s souls   00:48:26 Sam Rodriguez: If you re-read what I'm saying in those past two comments, there is no judgment intended to be expressed. This is merely a caution flag being waived. Nothing more.   00:48:29 Ren: My mind is also turned to the man found building a barn on the night he is going to die, and to Christ speaking of the destruction of the physical temple, and the enduring nature of the temple of his body. Everything in the New Testament, and here in this chapter, points us towards a less earthly, less secure (in one sense) way, and towards total abandon to the person of Christ.   00:52:01 Anthony: And it came to dust because it was intended to receive Messiah.  But when Messiah was rejected, the earthly glory was dismissed..  It's a warning for our cathedrals and basilicas too.   00:52:16 Robyn Greco: sorry im late   00:58:12 Sam Rodriguez: Amen, Father. Thank you   01:04:01 Ambrose Little: ❤️   01:05:51 Robyn Greco: i lost my spot can someone tell me where on page 57 we are? thank you   01:06:08 Rachel: I wonder at the examples of monks who fell away because of the lack of clarity Fr. Abernathy was speaking of a few minutes ago. The clarity Father A speaks of seems to be one received at every moment, from Our Lord through union with Him in whatever degree and capacity we are able to in that moment.                    In relation to St. John C., we will be pulled down by fears manifested in different idols and desires. The labor and grief also seem to be the pain that comes from the Divine Sculptor chipping away our illusions, of self and more importantly God Himself. Consumed by God Himself Also, ! I am not too sure what sublimation, that you mentioned means, so I will have to look up what you meant and how that related to what your were saying and how it relates.     01:06:15 Erick chastain: the joy of virtue should not exclude tears of compunction though   01:06:55 Rachel: Yes, Erick, a joyful sorrow. :)   01:07:43 Rachel: I was thinking the same thing. btw and am not afraid to say it lol   01:08:25 Rachel: What is peace?   01:12:37 Andreea and Anthony: Listening to the story about the Franciscan whose gift to the poor was destroyed by them before they could benefit, should we draw the conclusion that building on a large scale for others is always a mistake and a way of self-aggrandizement? For example, should Pope Saint John Paul the Great not have started any of the “big projects” he started such as World Youth Day, visiting so many countries, the work of the Catechism, Theology of the Body, etc … Should Saint Teresa of Calcutta not have built any of the homes for the poor? THAT was the way SHE was called to be the face of Christ in the world …   01:12:55 Andreea and Anthony: From Anthony: Regarding the idea that as soon as we try to enter the kingdom things go south, that seems very discouraging. Why would anyone then attempt it? It seems to me that God allows trials in accordance to what we need for the salvation of our souls, not allowing the devil to crush us immediately.   01:14:00 Erick chastain: joy should include suffering and  compunction, it is not a worldly joy   01:14:54 Erick chastain: suffering with christ   01:17:04 Cindy Moran: Thank you so much!   01:17:12 Rachel: Thank you   01:17:21 Sam Rodriguez: Thank you. Father!!   01:17:24 Rachel: If you say so lol   01:17:38 Rachel: Yes, it is drinking pure light   01:17:48 Ann Grimak: Thank you 🙏   01:17:56 kevin: thank you   01:18:08 Anne Barbosa: Thank you =)   01:18:11 kevin: Love Newman!   01:18:12 Debra: I like that the questions/comments are typed out, so I can go back and read them, if I've had to step away from the computer   01:18:28 liz2: Thank you Father!!   01:19:12 Rachel: lol I love this group  

The Evergetinos - Vol. I, Hypothesis XIX, Part III

Tonight we continued with Hypothesis 19 on the importance and value of obedience. I think it is safe to say that this is some of the most beautiful writing on the subject - one can only imagine because it arises out of deep experience.  Obedience is presented to us not as a kind of slavishness or something that leads to the crushing of the personality. Nor is it something that is infantilizing. What we find in the Fathers is just the opposite. Obedience is the prime good that we are to acquire because it casts out pride and it creates humility within the heart. Christ loved obedience because he loved the Father. It is in his incarnation that he was, by providence, obedient to his heavenly Father unto the cross and death. He obeyed the Father in love even though he was in no way inferior in greatness and dignity.  Obedience and love are intimately tied together. Divine love is vulnerable. And nowhere is this seen more fully than in Christ giving himself over to the Father’s will without question.  Such obedience also brings us healing and freedom from the danger of falling into delusion. Protected from pride, we never see ourselves and our lives as abstracted from God and his will for us. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:07:33 David Fraley: I always have snacks!   00:10:42 Anthony: "City a Desert" on YouTube is how I found him.   00:13:54 Debra: I didn't get any email today, regarding the commenting   00:24:02 Mark: Sorry… incredibly distracted on my end… what page are we on?   00:24:14 Anthony: 146   00:24:34 Mark: Thanks   00:32:21 Anthony: So this is what fundamentally makes our anthropology different than the Cathars.  They make ascetism a mere act of will.  We realize we have disjointed psychology that must be put aright.  And that is by grace and synergy of the will with grace we reorganize the soul/mind/body.  And this synergy is individual and communal.   00:37:56 Mitchell Hunt: I saw that. Very profound. Quote was from Elder Aimilianos   00:42:02 Ren: Didn’t one of the Fathers we read even talk about revealing ones thoughts to ones angel? It might have been in the context of the hermits, and I think they were able to see their angel, but I think it is still a lovely thought that could apply.   00:54:42 Anthony: I think that is a sentiment shared by Seneca the Stoic.   01:06:21 Ren: This paragraph really serves as the proof of the hypothesis: Obedience is most valuable because it defeats pride, and gives birth to humility and love of God - all without the danger of delusion. Amazing. Also helps to explain why the chapter on obedience is the longest chapter in the Ladder. Strange that the only time we really talk about obedience in the life of the church is little kids doing what mom and dad say.   01:11:16 Anthony: My discipline is political philosophy. Since the Reformation, and especially the American Revolution, we have a worldview of opposition and "I have the truth, I will separate from you."  This is immature and selfish and even Marxist, looking at life through a framework of parties being in perpetual opposition.  But classical political philosophy has a worldview based on love, friendship, patronage, "the ties that bind."  That is the Classical worldview upon which our Catholic ethics are based.    

The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter One: On Renunciation, Part IV

Thank you everyone who participated in the study of The Ladder of Divine Ascent tonight. Your questions were both beautiful and challenging.  Synopsis: As we continued our reflection upon Step One “On Renunciation” St. John makes it very clear that we must enter into the spiritual battle with a zeal and desire for God; we must leap into the fire if we really expect the celestial fire to dwell within us. None of our ascetical practices, or the renunciation of the world that John speaks of in this step, can be abstracted from our relationship with God and what he desires to give us. The firm foundation upon which the spiritual life is laid is innocence, fasting, and temperance. Like a child, a babe, we are to have a simple trust in the care of our heavenly father, we must allow him to nourish us upon that which we need. Our love can know nothing of calculation or sly deceit. This is essential John tells us. We must begin the spiritual life with clarity about who we are before God and what it is that we seek.  Likewise, we must enter into the spiritual life not lagging in the fight.  A firm beginning, John tells us, is useful when we later grow slack. We will all face trials and turmoil in the spiritual life and it is our first love, our first desire and zeal for the Lord, we must remember in order to set our hearts aflame once again. --- Text of chat during the group:  00:11:22 Cathy: Now thats Divine Providence!   00:11:36 FrDavid Abernethy, CO: Yes.  I thought so.   00:16:19 Sr Mary of our Divine Savior solt: Where can you find the text Father is reading from?   00:16:53 Sean: Paragraph 9 at the bottom page 55   00:17:57 Sr Mary of our Divine Savior solt: Thanks but is there a pdf file one can get this from? I do not have the book. Just started with you all.  Thanks.   00:18:40 Sean: I don’t think so   00:18:44 Ren: There is no PDF that we have access to. The book can be purchased at: https://www.bostonmonks.com/product_info.php/cPath/75_105/products_id/569   00:19:16 Sr Mary of our Divine Savior solt: OK Thank you.   00:20:56 Anthony: I have a problem with laying off all things.  For example, although Christ went into the desert for 40 says and was often in prayer, He _did not_ utterly cast off His family.  His Mother was with Him.  He had friends.  He had family mentioned in the Gospels and Epistles.   00:28:55 Sr Mary of our Divine Savior solt: http://www.prudencetrue.com/images/TheLadderofDivineAscent.pdf  found a PDF   00:29:36 Cathy: Great!  Saint John Climacus is looking our for you!!   00:29:50 Sr Mary of our Divine Savior solt: 😇   00:30:30 Anthony: And this is where a spiritual father, an elder / staretz, and Catholic Culture come in.  They can regulate us to be neither puritanical nor lax   00:41:31 Ambrose: fortitude maybe   00:42:19 Rachel: that is a wonderful chapter!!   00:45:14 Anthony: YOU ARE RIGHT   00:59:56 Anthony: Synergy.  This is fundamentally opposed to the monergism which is the heart of the Calvinist American culture.   01:05:40 Michael Shuman: This is a really good question.   01:09:47 Joseph Caro: sheen talk: https://youtu.be/5e5oPIHnHQs   01:16:41 Carol Nypaver: Thank you, Joseph!  I love Ven. Archbishop Fulton Sheen!🙏🏻   01:17:18 Anthony: The more one loves, the more one suffers when the love is offended.  That is how I see Our Lady suffering at the foot of the Cross most closely with the suffering and loving Christ   01:19:37 Sr Mary of our Divine Savior solt: colossians 1:24-26   01:19:58 Ashley Kaschl: “God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons.   He has not created me for naught. I shall do good; I shall do His work. I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it if I do but keep His commandments.   Therefore, I will trust Him, whatever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him, in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him. If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me. Still, He knows what He is about.”   - St. John Henry Newman   01:20:38 Cindy Moran: Thank you!   01:20:56 Jos: thank you   01:21:24 Cathy: My favorite night! Happy Feast Day!  

The Evergetinos - Vol. I, Hypothesis XIX, Part II

Tonight we continued our reading of Hypothesis 19 on obedience, its value, and how is attained.  We began with the Fathers’ understanding of the value of obedience. In it is realized all of the Commandments because through obedient love one conforms oneself to Christ. In this sense the person who is obedient, who embraces the will of another in whose care they are placed, becomes a “confessor of the Faith”. One who abandons his own will is rewarded more greatly than those who pursue virtue in accord with their own judgment or opinion. The clarity of the Fathers’ focus upon emulating Christ is essential for us to understand.  Obedience is not a slavishness; it is a self-emptying love that is rooted in the desire to please and serve the other. It is rooted in trust and shaped by self-sacrifice. May we never complicate it so as to make it unrecognizable. Within it is the power to redeem even what seems lost in our families, in our communities, and in life as a whole. It carries within it to seed of divine love that can reshape everything; even that which seems impossible to us. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:10:32 Lyle: Looking forward to another evening where someone may decisively, yet lovingly, dismantle erroneous ecclesiology for those of us catechumens.   00:19:55 Anthony: I'm guessing it was a fig branch or twig.  That's one way to propagate figs.  In year three, you get figs.   00:21:51 Ambrose: 1 John 2:3-5 ‘And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected.’   00:22:18 Ambrose: John 14:15 ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments.’   00:28:35 Anthony: This has implications for laity in problem parishes and dioceses and clergy under bishops with issues.   00:28:52 Anthony: Also had political implications against revolutions.   00:42:07 Ren: How does one reclaim the spirit of obedience once it has been lost? Once you have let resentment and even contempt of a particular authority figure to establish itself?   00:42:33 Jos: this was my question too but on the level of family/ generations   00:44:34 Ambrose: This one got me this morning. From lauds intercessions: Forgive us for failing to see Christ in the poor, the distressed and the troublesome, and for our failure to reverence your Son in their persons.   (particularly the "troublesome" part)   00:45:22 Carol Nypaver: Amen, Ambrose.   00:45:43 Anthony: We find our identity in the wrong.  Yeah, that's not healthy.   00:46:37 Ambrose: and not "sharing" it in social media   00:46:59 Jos: sorry I can't unmute   00:47:23 Carol Nypaver: Can you type it, Jos?   00:48:40 Jos: I wanted to ask about whether when one is born into a culture/ family structure and many generations that is filled with this pattern of resentment, lack of obedience etc, if it is then even possible to really change without enormous amounts of effort.   00:49:22 Lyle: Fr. David, I‘ve always appreciated the way you and some other spiritual directors continually point us to the Lord Jesus as our ultimate example whenever we need an example.   00:49:41 Jos: in our culture and my generation it is very common and it seems for many of us like outside of a very concerted effort it is nearly impossible to break out of the habitual that's been solidified in the unconscious   00:50:09 Anthony: Seeing each others flaws only - it can lead to long term and serious and acute resentments as with antipathy of different Slavic or Balkan peoples - or any of the old rivalries of Europe.   00:50:59 Ren: Agreed Lyle! “He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross.”   00:52:11 Ren: I have never been willing to be “obedient to death” 🤪   00:53:56 Carol Nypaver: There are many kinds of “deaths”—🤪   00:54:11 Ren: Yes. Ooof.   00:54:28 Carol Nypaver: 😩   00:54:36 Ambrose: All things are possible with God! Baby steps. Finding small things to train the will. Prayer. Nothing fast or quick fix.. Lean into grace.   00:55:55 Carol Nypaver: It’s a “choice” to obey/respect.   00:56:49 Lyle: Christ came into the world, not in His own name, but in the Name of the Father (John 15:20). He voluntarily accepted to fulfill in the most perfect way of the Father.  As an adopted child of God, must not I voluntarily do the same?  After all, God raised our Lord up and exalted Him above everything AND thereby provided eternal life to all mankind.   00:57:29 Ren: Amazing how obedience requires the other great virtues: Faith, Hope, Love, Extreme Humility. Maybe that is why the obedient brother is considered the greatest.   00:58:28 Carol Nypaver: 👍🏻   01:01:32 Anthony: That's part of the Benedictine charism   01:04:38 Forrest Cavalier: Chrysostom Homily 20 on Ephesians 5 has this phrasing on bending the will: “and nothing is so bitter or so painful to me, as ever to be at variance with you”   01:06:29 Anthony: We formed in the American life have a long tradition of self-will going back to the Puritan, Scottich Covenanter and Huguenot traditions such as "Lex Rex" and "Give me Liberty or Give me Deah."   01:06:35 Anthony: "Death"   01:06:44 Ambrose: Though he was in the form of God, Jesus did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at.   Rather, he emptied himself and took the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men.   He was known to be of human estate, and it was thus that he humbled himself, obediently accepting even death, death on a cross! (Philippians 2:6ff)   01:11:47 Lyle: During the Friday "Stations of the Cross", the Parish I am attending finishes EACH prayer with asking the Lord Jesus to "Do with me as YOU will."   01:13:15 Vicki Nichols: That sounds like St. Alphonsus Liguori's Stations of the Cross.   01:17:38 maureencunningham: Everyone a Movie called the Man of God about Saint Nektarios Of Aegina in Movie theater very beautiful film a friend said   01:22:15 Tyler Woloshyn: I have not found a viewing here in Canada for that movie yet   01:24:15 Anthony: Like the tendency to Jansenism or a Jansenist spirit among some American Catholic clergy and religious in past years and some trads now.   01:25:17 Lyle: The constant witness of the Eucharist is a very formative tool for anyone - adult or child.   01:25:50 Rachel: Thank you!!   01:25:51 Mitchell Hunt: thanks Father David   01:25:59 Anne Barbosa: Thank you Father!  

Repentance: Life’s Continual Effort

Lecture given by Father David S. Abernethy, C.O. on Saturday, March 26. 

The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter One: On Renunciation, Part III

After laying some groundwork in the previous weeks we finally stepped in to the meat, as it were, of John‘s writing.  We took up once again Step number One “on renunciation”. John moves very quickly to lay out before us the reasons why one would embrace the renunciation not only of the monks in the desert but of the ascetical life as a whole. The two fundamental reasons are the multitude of our sins and the love of God. The beginning of the spiritual life most often is the simple acknowledgment of our poverty and the infirmity that sin brings into our life. We see the emptiness of this life outside of our relationship with God. The acknowledgment of this truth bears the fruit of repentance; a fundamental turning toward God with streams of tears and heartfelt groanings that reflect an interior reality. It is then that God, as he did with Lazarus, orders that the stone be rolled away from the tomb and that we be unloosed from the passions that hold us in their grip.  Yet, John would not have us see this as a path that we take in isolation. It is always to be trod with a guide or a director, a Moses figure. We need those who can help bring about the healing of the passions of the soul by their care as physicians. We need to be guided by those who have lived a life equal to the angels; that is, who have been freed from the corruption of their wounds and so have become experts and the most skilled physicians/surgeons. We do not live our Christian life out in isolation but only in communion with others and strengthened by those who have been transformed by the grace of God and the ascetical life. This life, John tells us in an unvarnished way, requires violence and constant suffering; a dying to self and sin in order that our hearts might attain to the love of God and the love of chastity and all of the other virtues. There will be great toil in this battle and the false-self, that kitchen dog addicted to barking, John tells us, is only overcome by the one who becomes a lover of chastity and watchfulness.  The foundation of this journey is the courage to offer our souls to God in our infirmity, the faith to trust in Him, and the humility that we might bare all before his healing light of His Grace.  --- Text of chat during the group: 00:11:31 Cindy Moran: What version of the book is being used?   00:15:58 Anthony: copyright 1979 Holy Transfiguration Monastery   00:18:01 Fr. Miron Jr.: https://www.bostonmonks.com/product_info.php/cPath/75_105/products_id/569   00:53:17 maureencunningham: What was the book Psychology Orthodoxy wombs the writer?   00:53:58 Fr. Miron Jr.: https://www.amazon.com/Orthodox-Psychotherapy-Esther-Cunningham-Williams/dp/9607070275/ref=sr_1_2?crid=174I4J6U16QTR&keywords=orthodox+psychotherapy&qid=1648080810&sprefix=orthoodx+ps%2Caps%2C94&sr=8-2   00:56:02 maureencunningham: Thank you   01:16:51 Ashley Kaschl: “The life of man upon earth is a warfare, and his days are like the days of a hireling.” (Job 7:1, DRA)   01:24:50 Rachel: wow!   01:26:04 Rachel: How many times have the faithful heard in the midst of the battle, the same comparisons. A mistaken notion that the engaing in the battle means one has lost their " peace!?"   01:26:43 Bonnie Lewis: Thank you so much Father David.   01:26:45 Cindy Moran: Very good session thank you   01:26:53 Miron Kerul Kmec: Thank you   01:26:54 Rachel: Thank you Father and everyone.   01:27:09 Samantha Topolewski: Thank you!   01:27:20 Carole DiClaudio: Good night everyone!!  

The Evergetinos - Vol. I, Hypothesis XVIII, Part V and Hypothesis XIX, Part I

Tonight we concluded Hypothesis 18 and began reading Hypothesis 19. Both emphasize the importance of not engaging in the spiritual life in isolation. One does not throw an inexperienced soldier, a novice in warfare, into the midst of a battle, having never used a weapon, and expect him to survive.  Similarly, we are taught that it would be foolhardy for us to think that we could engage in intense spiritual warfare, especially that of a hermit in deep solitude, without first having many years of being formed in a spirit of obedience and the common life.  One must be teachable in the truest sense of the word; we must be docile to the guidance of others and those who are more experienced. Wisdom teaches us to seek the guidance of those who have experiential knowledge of what it is to struggle with the evil one, to avoid mortal traps. We must become unabashed students of the holy Fathers. We must let the dust of the road, as one from the group noted, and that of the sandals of the elders we follow kick up and cling to us. Simply by drawing close to the Fathers, by studying their writings, we find the surest teaching. In such an age is ours, where freedoms and personal rights are emphasized, it can be very difficult to wrap our minds around the value in the essential need of walking such a path. Yet, as we shall see, it is the only way because it is the path trod Christ himself. --- Text of chat during the group:  00:36:49 Forrest Cavalier: Was it Chrysostom Homily 20 on Ephesians 5:22-24?   00:37:00 FrDavid Abernethy, CO: yes   00:37:01 Forrest Cavalier: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/230120.htm   01:13:16 Forrest Cavalier: I think the word in greek βαφή connotes dyeing, not painting.   01:14:37 Anthony: Thank you, Forrest   01:16:55 Anthony: Forrest, that would make sense for it to connote dyeing, a dipping process; the word looks like it may share the same root as baptizo.  

The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter One: On Renunciation, Part II

Tonight we resumed our reading of Step One on the Renunciation of the world. The step fits into the larger context of a break with the world which includes, John tells us, detachment and exile. Here is where monks sought to remove everything from their lives that would keep them from focusing solely upon God and what He alone offers. As Christians we may not imitate the monk in living in the desert; yet, in reality, the desert exists within the human heart. The renunciation that John speaks of in this first step must exist within us as well. There are many ways that we have to let go of the things that hold us within their grip; the passions (sins that have become habitual), disordered desires that make us long for satisfaction and seek it within worldly goods and the fulfillment of the appetites.  In paragraph 4, John begins to define for us the various types of Christians. He does this not as an abstraction but rather as a frame through which we can view our lives. He paints with broad strokes and asks us to gaze deeply into the image to see if we recognize a reflection of ourselves. Are we an irreligious man (not thinking of God at all), a transgressor who distorts the faith in a depraved fashion? Are we a Christian who seeks to imitate Christ in word, thought, and deed - who believes in what God has revealed of himself to us; namely, believing in the Holy Trinity? Are we the lover of God who seeks to live in communion with all that is natural and sinless? Are we the continent man, who in the face of temptations and turmoil, struggles in order that he might be free? Have we interiorized monasticism in the sense that we seek a chaste love, purity of heart and mind? Do we remember death so as to cling to He alone who is our life? Have we set aside the things of this world voluntarily; not because they are evil but because we are a naturally attached to them more than we are attached to the love of God? --- Text of chat during the group: 00:34:39 Anthony: We are tied to an evolutionary metaphysic - to our detriment.   00:35:13 Anthony: "We" being society, even Christian society adopt evolutionary "becoming'   00:36:54 Eric Williams: I think Thomas à Kempis made a good effort to remind Western scholastics of the bigger picture.   00:38:18 Ambrose Little: Some people are more intellectually inclined, and God can use that to draw people to himself.   00:39:20 Joseph Caro: good point Ambrose! I agree, from my own observations   00:39:21 Edward Kleinguetl: To be fair, Aidan Nichols--who I referenced-- is a Dominican.   00:39:34 Ambrose Little: Fr. Garrigou-La Grange, O.P. is great. Highly recommend: Christian Perfection and Contemplation: According to St. Thomas Aquinas and St. John of the Cross https://amzn.to/3JlEwrP   00:39:57 sue and mark: God will and can use who ever a   00:40:05 Fr. Miron Jr.: Let's return to Climacus   00:40:12 sue and mark: whoever and where eer you are to bring you to himself   00:40:57 Carmen Briceno: aren’t we doing the same thing now? over intellectualizing what has happened rather than going back to the sources?   00:58:23 Joseph Caro: “It is a mistake,” says St. John Chrysostom, “to imagine that one can in one’s own strength vanquish concupiscence and preserve purity; by God’s mercy alone can the passions of nature be controlled.”   01:02:58 Bonnie Lewis: This humility will reveal great truths about ourselves.   01:03:08 Mitchell Hunt: Where was that quote from above nothingness and humility? Amazing   01:03:14 Mitchell Hunt: About   01:07:34 Ren: @MitchellHunt - Mother Mectilde de Bar’s “Breviary of Fire.” The chapter on Pride and Humility   01:10:45 Erick: this is pure gold. each sentence of this is an outline of the spiritual life   01:11:19 Anthony: It takes experience in the world to see the trials and sorrow which result from the Curse, and we really then long to be free and to live in accordance with our nature (created and "deified").   01:13:49 Cathy: We can not have 2 gods... We will despise one   01:18:37 Mitchell Hunt: Thank you Ren   01:18:40 Eric Williams: Material comforts are like agglomerations attached to us. As they increase in number, they add to our “mass”, and as mass increases so does gravitational attraction. The more things we amass, the more we draw toward ourselves. With a little more thought one might find an interesting metaphor to be made from the accumulation of accretions becoming so great that a black hole is formed.   01:20:17 Anthony: God is the "Philanthropic One." Beautiful title.   01:22:45 Sean McCune: Eric: We become a nothingness that pulls everything in our grasp to ourselves where they are also become nothingness.   01:25:09 Sean McCune: (It took your comment about material things to get this secular Franciscan to say something) 😏   01:26:40 victoriaschweitzer: Righto. We must receive. We cannot approach with the mindset that we have to accumulate spiritual goodies. Ask and you shall receive.   01:28:21 Eric Williams: Indeed, Sean. The funny thing about massive bodies is that they interact with others. Either we enter into harmonious orbits or equilibria with other persons, or we are rogue bodies that collide with others or gravitational abysses that absorb and destroy all that falls within our sphere of influence. (Have I beaten this metaphor to death yet? 😉)   01:29:14 Mitchell Hunt: I think some people have have missed tonight due to your time zone change recently.  Got me on Monday night  

The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter One: On Renunciation, Part I

Thank you to all who attended the group on the Ladder of Divine Ascent. It was wonderful to see so many with the desire to sit at the feet of the great Saint and teacher John Climacus.   Synopsis: Tonight was our inaugural group reading the Ladder of Divine Ascent by Saint John Climacus. We allowed ourselves to jump immediately into the text with step number one “On Renunciation.” We will unpack things as we move forward; including the anthropology and the psychology of the fathers, the language used by Climacus and historical details from his life.  In the first three paragraphs Climacus begins his writing with God, who he describes as the source of life and salvation for all, believers and unbelievers, just and unjust, pious and impious, educated and illiterate, healthy and sick, young and old. He then goes on to define the Christian and the monk and how their identity determines the way they live their lives. Freedom is set out as imperative. God has created all free beings and offers salvation to all. This is the essential frame in which we are to read the rest of the book and understand the ascetical life. We freely seek to give ourselves and our love to God and to embrace the love and grace that He has given to us. Our asceticism is not simply an act of endurance but rather an act of freedom and love. Outside of this the ascetical life loses any sense of purpose and meaning. Likewise we look to the elders, to the fathers in their virtue and purity of heart for their guidance in word and deed. They in turn engage us not as impartial observers or analysts but rather as those who are fellow strugglers in the pursuit of God and of the kingdom. It is the love and desire for the salvation of those in their charge that guides and directs their care of others. --- 19:27:40 From FrDavid Abernethy, CO : https://www.thepittsburghoratory.org/_files/ugd/5299f8_4fb9f89659424fcb997865abbdef4d24.pdf   19:29:16 From siobhan from pittsburgh : Hi Im Sandra   19:29:32 From Michele : Dave and Michele Berthelsen are here.   19:29:52 From siobhan from pittsburgh : not Siobhan   19:29:56 From Rachel : 🙏🏼   19:30:25 From kevinferrick : Hello everyone,   newbie here from Boston.   Hope I navigate the zoom alright   19:30:45 From Sr Mary of our Divine Savior solt : Hi, God bless, Sr. Mary of our Divine Savior   19:31:09 From Amil : Perhaps in the grand scheme of things, we are all pretty tiny.   19:31:23 From siobhan from pittsburgh : I love it!!   19:32:24 From Ambrose Little : https://pghco.org/climacus   19:33:24 From Carole DiClaudio : Hi Kevin!   19:33:46 From Carole DiClaudio : Hi Sr. Mary!   19:40:39 From Joseph Caro : If there is a handout, can the link be posted here? thanks!   19:40:58 From Sean McCune : https://www.thepittsburghoratory.org/_files/ugd/5299f8_4fb9f89659424fcb997865abbdef4d24.pdf   19:41:55 From Miika : Good Morning everyone! First time live! Miika from Finland   19:42:30 From Carol Nypaver : Very cool!  Welcome, Miika!   19:42:37 From Carole DiClaudio : Hello Miika!!!   19:42:53 From Rachel : 2-3 years! I  hope I have that many ( blessed) years.   19:43:35 From Carole DiClaudio : :)   19:47:38 From Erick Chastain : Sorry, I ended up breaking into this zoom room by pure luck I guessed the link. I didn't sign up   19:48:01 From Ashley Kaschl : 😂   19:48:31 From Debra : I always fumble around to find the link   19:48:31 From Erick Chastain : If Fr wants me to leave since I didn't sign up, he or Ren can notify me   19:48:47 From Debra : BTW...thank you Ambrose for the link!   19:49:03 From Ambrose Little : Write it on your heart and on your mind.   19:49:15 From Debra : It's a weird URL   19:52:27 From Ren : No worries Erick :-) All are welcome. Even the hackers ;-)   19:52:55 From Carol Nypaver : 🤣   19:52:55 From Fr. Miron Jr. : 🤣   19:54:02 From Anthony : Wow, this is different than - as in other teachings - "elect" and "reprobate"   19:55:42 From Ren : WOW. Beautiful.   19:56:20 From Jim Milholland : How poetic   20:02:48 From Anthony : "These Noetic creatures" as Father said.  That reminds me of this phrase used by St. Gregory of Narek: "Rational Flock."   20:02:59 From Fr. Miron Jr. : https://www.amazon.com/Orthodox-Psychotherapy-Esther-Cunningham-Williams/dp/9607070275/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3954VB8PGOFPM&keywords=orthodox+psychotherapy&qid=1646874171&sprefix=ortodog+psychoterapy%2Caps%2C61&sr=8-2   20:05:07 From Rachel : Yes!!   20:06:45 From Fr. Miron Jr. : same seminary experince duing my years...   20:10:26 From Lilly : I didn’t know him until last year   20:10:58 From Gilmar Siqueira : Translated into Spanish by Friar Luis de Granada :)   20:12:34 From victoriaschweitzer : Good point, amil !   20:13:40 From Carole DiClaudio : I thought the same thing, Amil!   20:19:36 From Amil : 🕊️   20:22:37 From Rachel : Bingo   20:27:51 From St. Stanislaus Kostka Religious Education : We simply have to keep ourselves focused on God. No matter what our 'poverty' limitations....not looking at each other's abilities or place in the world...just keep focused on God and ask for God's help.   20:34:03 From maureencunningham : Thank you   20:34:07 From Miika : Sadly theological education in the Nordic countries is also very one-sidedly rationality centered. (At least amongst us "protestants" -not that I protest anything personally...as far as I know)   20:34:22 From Rachel : lol Carol   20:35:12 From iPhone : thank you   20:35:18 From Rachel : Thank you Father and everyone. God bless!   20:35:23 From Bob and Tara Bartz : Thank you!   20:35:24 From Ben David : good night good fight   20:35:30 From Mitchell Hunt : Thank you Father   20:35:31 From Michele : Thank you!  

The Evergetinos - Vol. I, Hypothesis XVIII, Part IV

Tonight we continued with Hypothesis 18 which examines the importance of seeking the guidance of elders; those who have a deep desire for God and have come to know His ways through experience. We can have no conceit of knowledge when it comes to the spiritual life. Natural gifts, talents, and abilities are good in and of themselves but they do not necessarily give us insight into the ways of God or knowledge of divine things. At times we seem to almost have an infinite capacity for self-delusion. The more one progresses along the spiritual path the greater in fact the danger becomes. If we do not guard our hearts, if we do not seek out the counsel of others, we can quickly fall into the pit of self-judgment. The fall then can be great and the damage done terrible. Therefore the Fathers with one voice call us to constantly seek out the wisdom of others, to listen to God at the depths ofour being with a spirit of humility. No matter how wise we become what we understand is infinitesimal in comparison to the wisdom of God and the Spirit that searches the depths of our hearts. In this we can allow ourselves no illusions. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:06:31 FrDavid Abernethy, CO: beginning page 139   00:25:23 Rachel: lol ?? unfortunately yes   00:25:28 Anthony: Or when you leave Mass / Divine Liturgy after profuse incense.   00:26:06 Rachel: Okay...I love the incense. Dont mind that one bit.   00:42:54 Forrest Cavalier: Instead of criticizing priests and deacons we need to dialog with them. It's a two-way commitment, though.   00:57:37 Daniel Allen: The Centurian was a pagan and Jesus said He had found no greater faith than the faith of this centurion in all of Israel. And I believe Scripture even says Jesus “marveled”.   00:58:09 Forrest Cavalier: The Greek original in this Evergetinos says "holy men". Discernment is important when we seek advice.   01:07:57 Bridget McGinley: The centurian is the man I study the most.... I want that Faith! Can you imagine "marveling" Christ? Thanks Daniel!   01:10:43 Forrest Cavalier: 1 Cor 13:2 And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing  

Letters of Spiritual Direction to a Young Soul - Letter Seventy-Eight, Part II and Letter Seventy-Nine

It is a bitter sweet thing to come to the end of such a long journey - a long and sometimes arduous journey but one that has brought such joy and hope. Tonight we finished the final two letters of Saint Theophan to Anastasia.  They are perhaps the two finest letters of the collection. Saint Theophan speaks with a great directness and honesty about the anxieties that Anastasia experiences and how she has to deal with him. He sees how clearly they can be temptations from the Evil One to pull her away from God, from trusting Him, and from the practice of prayer. It was with great gentleness and tenderness that he guided her through this in order that Anastasia might understand that if she but makes an irrevocable gift of herself to God she will be ever under His protection. She need have fear of nothing and no one.  In the final letter (80) he speaks to her about the extraordinary grace she has received through having endured the storm. Satan sought to sift her like wheat. Yet God used all of this to perfect her faith and to teach her. The Enemy through his tricks sought to create hurry and to alarm her and confuse matters. Yet Anastasia has learned that Godly things are peaceful and quiet. She must only wait. Everything comes in its own time.  In the years to come, Theophan tells her, she must gravitate towards solitude; not necessarily the solitude of the desert but of her heart. There she must wait for God and allow herself to be nourished upon His love. Indeed, there is nothing more beautiful. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:15:51 Andreea Gallagher: Where are we?   00:16:21 Carol Nypaver: 302   00:17:02 Andreea and Anthony: Thanks!   00:17:15 Carol Nypaver: 😇   00:40:31 Barb Heyrman: Considering how related religious experience is to psychological experience it is interesting that at one time they were separated by design   00:53:16 Barb Heyrman: Also points to the problem of comparing ourselves & our circumstances with the situations of another — maybe the ‘recipie’ God is using w/ us & the oven temp & baking time is different   01:00:26 Barb Heyrman: I hear this all the time…the identity as the syndrome … anxiety/ADHD / ‘this is just who I am’   01:12:31 Ren: To join the email group for the Ladder, go to www.pghco.org/climacus-email   01:14:59 Wayne: if we are on the email list do we need to register again?   01:16:23 Wayne: gotta go goodnight   01:16:37 Ren: This particular email list is for you to receive the weekly email with the Zoom link, or information specifically about the group (cancellations, etc…). If you are subscribed to Philokalia Ministries then, yes, you will want to subscribe to this list as well.   01:17:45 Art: Gotta go too.  Good night,   01:19:15 Ren: Bumpkins   01:19:19 Ren: :-D   01:24:39 Rafael Patrignani: thank you! i have yo leave   01:26:18 Anne Barbosa: Thank you!   01:27:04 Eric Williams: There are 30 steps on the ladder, right? We might finish the book in about as many months. ;)   01:27:17 Mitchell Hunt: Thank you been a great study of Theophan   01:27:57 Carol Nypaver: Thank you!   01:28:35 Mitchell Hunt: Great sounds good  

The Evergetinos - Vol. I, Hypothesis XVIII, Part III

Tonight we continued our reading of hypothesis 18 which focuses upon the importance of seeking the counsel of those who have an experiential knowledge of the spiritual life. We do not live out our Christian life as individuals. Even the monk living in the greatest solitude understands the radical solidarity that he has with others in the life of the Church.  The stories that we are presented with here this evening show us that the desire of monks to seek out the counsel of elders; and not only the desire but the necessity of doing so. To try to walk along the spiritual path, to try and engage in the spiritual battle alone is foolhardy. Inevitably, we will fall to one of the passions or we will find ourselves in the grip of the Evil One.  Humility is key. Our lives have to be radically focused upon the truth and most of all the poverty and the weakness that sin has brought into our lives. We must acknowledge that it is by God alone that we are saved ; and that it is by his grace that we are able to engage in the ascetical life. We must avoid self-styled asceticism that lacks discretion. No matter how wise we might be we must believe that we are in need of learning and counsel. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:55:48 Forrest Cavalier: My summary of this discussion to Anthony's questions: We know by fruits: Wicked self-doubt leads towards despair, quietism (on one side) or self-reliant Pelagianism (on the other.) Proper self-doubt: recognize our poverty, leading to grace, trust, unity to body of Christ.   01:00:04 John Clark: Pre V2 you were required to fast after Midnight the night before attending mass and not eat anything if receiving the Holy Host…   01:00:47 Carol Nypaver: Yep….not even water.   01:08:43 Eric Williams: If disciplines become perfunctory, the Church should inform consciences and instruct the ignorant, not discard the disciplines. 🙁   01:09:36 Erick: agreed Eric   01:13:15 Erick: some people are trying to revive the ancient lenten fasting practice.... See here for details: https://www.beautysoancient.com/lentpledge/   01:14:18 Eric Williams: I hope they revive St Martin’s (Nativity) Fast, too ;)   01:14:30 Rachel: Thank you! God bless everyone!   01:15:41 David Fraley: Thank you and good night, Father.   01:16:14 Rachel: Thank you Ren.   01:16:30 Eric Williams: Thanks for the reminder about that, Ren! 🙂  

Enter By The Narrow Gate: The Ascetic Podvig of Living in the World

Tonight we had the opportunity to discuss asceticism as a preparation for the holy season of Lent. We find in the spiritual  tradition a clear call to enter into a struggle to live the life of faith to its fullest. We are to strive to enter by the narrow gate.  When we look to the Scriptures and the writings of the Saints we see very clearly that they took no passive approach to the embrace of the faith. They knew that it must be lived and that their life must undergo a revolution. To live in accord with the beatitudes or the sermon on the mount means that one will not fit into the norms of this world. Just the opposite. In so far as we experience ease within this world, or experience success and the favors of this world we may be living a life at enmity with God.  Our life should be about seeking to love God above all things and seeking to please him. Our exercise of the faith, our asceticism, means nothing if it is merely an exercise of endurance. It must be rooted in our desire for God and the things of God. It must be rooted in love.  Seen in this light, Lent should not be simply a 40 day period that comes and goes; but rather a springboard into a more committed life in Christ.  Lent is about repentance; turning toward God and away from self and sin. May we take this truth to heart and so know the healing of God‘s grace in all of its fullness. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:03:14 Jean-Paul: in a vow of digital simplicity no camera and no mic   00:20:12 Jean-Paul: Could you please re-state the name of that journal   00:47:16 Andrew musano: “Do that which is good, and no evil shall touch you. Prayer is good with fasting and alms and righteousness. A little with righteousness is better than much with unrighteousness. It is better to give alms than to lay up gold: For alms doth deliver from death, and shall purge away all sin. Those that exercise alms and righteousness shall be filled with life: But they that sin are enemies to their own life.”   + St. Raphael the Archangel, Tobit 12:7-10   00:50:41 Anthony: Contendire in Latin.  Contend. Not just "you signed an intellectual contract to get to Heaven."   00:51:30 Jean-Paul: The Great Fast begins with the Exultation of the Cross Sept.14   00:53:00 Louise A: My dear Father always practiced Ember day fasting....if I remember they were originally associated with the great feasts Christmas,Easter, Pentecost.   00:56:30 Andrew musano: Listed below is dates for Fasting in the East. I hope this helps.   https://secureservercdn.net/166.62.112.219/1a3.c9d.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/the-fasts-of-the-orthodox-church.pdf   01:04:13 Jean-Paul: Carthusian guidance on fasting  http://www.quies.org/quies_fasting.php   01:05:30 Jean-Paul: Carthusian fasting for the Fathers is usually on Fridays and consists of eating solely bread and water   01:10:47 Andrew musano: Let all involuntary suffering teach you to remember God, and you will not lack occasion for repentance.   + St. Mark the Ascetic, “On the Spiritual Law: Two Hundred Texts” No. 57, The Philokalia: The Complete Text (Vol. 1)   01:18:56 Andrew musano: Ash Wednesday Is a beautiful tradition. 01:28:21 Andrew musano: A foretaste of Heaven on Earth   01:36:09 Ren: The adults are the real annoyance. Lets get rid of all of them :-D ;-)   01:48:59 Jean-Paul: Can anyone tell how long tonights gather will be   01:50:56 Jean-Paul: We are on page 4 will we complete the PDF tonight?   01:52:26 Andrew musano: “It is necessary for a Christian to fast, in order to clear his mind, to rouse and develop his feelings, and to stimulate his will to useful activity. These three human capabilities we darken and stifle above all by ‘surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life’ (Lk. 21:34).”   — St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ   02:10:22 Jean-Paul: More than 40% of the women over 75 live alone -- perhaps there are more hermits and monks than one knows.   02:11:11 Bonnie: This has given me an entirely new way to prepare for Lent.  Much deeper, more meaningful, and hopefully long lasting.  Thank you Father!   02:11:17 Miron Kerul Kmec: thank you   02:11:24 ellice: Thank you! This was beautiful   02:11:28 Jean-Paul: Peace and all good   02:11:29 Andrew musano: Thank you Fr.   02:11:40 Anthony: Thank you :)   02:11:50 Larisa Cowell: Thank you Father I loved it.   02:12:04 Louise A: many thanks Father  

Letters of Spiritual Direction to a Young Soul - Letter Seventy-Seven, Part II

Tonight we concluded letter 77 and went on to read letter 78. As we have seen in past weeks, Theophan is much more direct with Anastasia now that she has made her decision to enter into the religious life. In multiple ways, she has been tempted either by those who have no faith, by her fear of injustice and false accusation, or her desire to express and pursue her own freedom. Theophan warns her against all these things and the kind of false freedom especially that we cling to that offers no hope. In fact, Theophan refers to it as an “evil impulse that is evil”. We are called to walk the path of the cross; to die to self and to self-will and to live for Christ. We have not been promised the love of the world. Rather, we have been promised just the opposite - its hatred. Why would she want to flee her parents house when in reality it is a protective environment for her? It is there that she can learn the life of a obedience at the hand of those who love her the most. What greater opportunity is there to be formed for the religious life than this? Don’t chase false freedoms, he warns her. The impulse to freedom is like chasing rainbows or desiring to catch shadows. When we look at the world we see unhappy people desperately seeking to assert themselves -  often at the cost of others. She must learn to look at her life in the light of Christ and her freedom in light of the communion of love in which she exists with God. Anything else is an illusion. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:06:03 Art: Posting a follow up to Eric C’s question from last week.  While he was asking I was reminded of one possible answer to the dilemma whether to obey the Church 10 years ago or the Church one month ago.  Rather than butcher the response, I’ve included the actual source.  It begins around 15:28 and ends around 20:50   Two points I found helpful were the comments that in a crisis there is an objectively right thing to do. “You hold on to what was always believed everywhere by everybody.”  “What has the Church always believed?  That is what I must continue to believe.”  And    “The faith does not change.  What was once true is still true. Either it was false then, in which case it is false now.  Or else it was true then and it’s true now.”  The speaker is Fr. David Sherry SSPX.    Hopefully you find it helpful.   http://sspxpodcast.com/2021/12/crisis-series-49-father-what-can-i-do-about-the-crisis-in-the-church/   00:32:13 Anthony: I've wondered if this applies to legal processes such as the cases for freedom to act according to a well formed conscience.  OK, suppose you lose the case....would that change your acting according to a well formed conscience?  We are called to accept persecutions.   00:35:35 Anthony: Would the truth of the cross apply to suffering under the English "Reformation," the French Revolution and the Vendee, the American Revolution....and current events like in Eastern Europe?   00:40:30 John Clark: I once had to confront an office bully…It was a good outcome   00:43:00 Lyle: Today, some of us were meditating on the Office of Readings regarding St. Polycarp's martyrdom.  His last words brought tears to my eyes.  “I praise you for all things, I bless you, I glorify you through the eternal priest of heaven, Jesus Christ, your beloved Son. Through him be glory to you, together with him and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen”.   00:43:21 Lyle: Surrounded by the fire, his body was like bread that is baked, or gold and silver white-hot in a furnace, not like flesh that has been burnt. So sweet a fragrance came to us that it was like that of burning incense or some other costly and sweet-smelling gum.   00:44:18 Carol Nypaver: Amen!  St. Polycarp, pray for us!   00:46:48 Erick Chastain: you get an academic department at a major public university   00:47:22 Erick Chastain: 😅   00:59:53 Eric Williams: I was bullied every year of my public education. Hardly a desirable kind of socialization.   01:05:21 Ren: Booooooo ;-)   01:05:29 Cathy: I am offended   01:05:49 Carol Nypaver: 🤣   01:06:22 Ren: Suffragette #1 over here :-D   01:06:36 Ashley Kaschl: 😂😂😂   01:09:59 Lyle: Too many times MY exercise of freedom led me FROM the LIGHT (My Lord) to DARKNESS (Rebellion and sin.)   01:13:06 Eric Williams: seen on a bumper sticker: “Teenagers, quick, leave home while you still know everything!”   01:18:49 Edward Kleinguetl: His book, Tattoos on the Heart, is amazing!   01:19:26 Marylouise Lambert: Homeboy Industries   01:20:49 Anthony: We (the Church) were helped along in our deplenishment by Josephism, Jansenism, Americanism.   01:21:53 Anthony: Febronianism....all worked to diminish our unified spiritual/social role   01:22:46 Erick Chastain: actually... I think it was 1 year ago   01:22:54 Miron Kerul Kmec: Thank you!   01:23:03 Cathy: Good for you Eric!!   01:23:13 Mitchell Hunt: Thank you Father David   01:23:16 Erick Chastain: It was this podcast that told me about grace   01:23:22 Anne Barbosa: Thank you!   01:23:26 Cathy: Thank you Father!   01:23:43 Cathy: Bring snacks!  

The Evergetinos - Vol. I, Hypothesis XVIII, Part II

Tonight we continued with Hypothesis 18 on the importance of seeking the company of virtuous people and questioning so as to learn about the spiritual life. What we find in the writings and the lives of the desert fathers is a stress on the importance of seeking counsel. One never walks spiritual life in isolation. We should foster a zeal within us to talk about the spiritual life with those who have experiential knowledge that is rooted in many years of striving to live the gospel in its fullness. We are given one example after another of individuals seeking out the counsel of elders, being swept up in the desire for their wisdom, and being willing to travel great distances to learn from them. May God instill within our hearts that same yearning and urgent longing for God and for the truth. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:06:57 Mark: Which version of “The Ladder” are you going to use?   00:07:39 Rachel: good to know   00:08:18 Eric Williams: I shared some quotes from the Evergetinos with my Saturday morning men's group   00:08:37 Anthony: Nice   00:12:27 carolnypaver: Page?   00:13:12 Fr. Miron Jr.: 135   00:16:07 Anthony: They had a visit, it was time to go, and the went outside to leave but kept talking for hours?  Maybe they were Italian. ;)   00:17:40 sue and mark: they must have been!   00:23:45 Anthony: Does this maybe come as a result of the "frentic energy" which Father David warns against? A kind of energy that just wants to be dissipated but not focused?   00:34:22 John Clark: Personally praying the rosary silently keeps me in constant contact with the Lord and Holy Spirit   00:46:28 Rachel: It is mostly our own vice   00:50:17 Anthony: Heresy of Americanism, too   00:51:44 Eric Williams: Catholics have forgotten how to be in the world but not of it.   00:53:30 Erick Chastain: Bp athanasius schneider   01:00:02 Eric Williams: Is this a stone age tool? ;)   01:01:03 Rachel: " Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord.."..   01:04:10 Eric Williams: Unfortunately, big books/sets are hard sells these days, even to those who seem engaged in their faith. Attention spans are short, people are busy, and we're conditioned to pay attention to sound bites and memes.   01:07:42 Eric Williams: I still have your notes from the Climacus group you led years ago (20?). :)   01:10:07 Rachel: WOW!!   01:13:01 Erick Chastain: can confirm about cmu   01:13:38 Rachel: I feel like that everytime I talk lol   01:13:57 Wayne: gotta go   01:14:41 Eric Williams: I've always appreciated how succinct and to the point your homilies are. The anxiety was worthwhile!   01:16:19 Ambrose Little: Unless you just don’t like apples. 😄   01:17:15 Fr. Miron Jr.: and also in slovakia   01:17:31 Rachel: haha   01:17:53 Lyle: May hungering and thirsting for God drive us to a passionate, relentless pursuit of Him.   01:20:04 Rachel: Thank you Father  

Letters of Spiritual Direction to a Young Soul - Letter Seventy-Six, Part II and Letter Seventy-Seven, Part I

Tonight we began with Letter 76 where Theophan again takes up the temptations that are coming to Anastasia from unbelievers. They have begun to call into question the reality of God and the dignity of the human person; making absurd arguments and trying to twist her up within them. With clarity, he tells Anastasia simply to stay focused upon the dignity of the human person. No matter how diminished we are physically, emotionally, or spiritually, we always bear within us the grace of God who created us in His image and likeness. Even if that reality seems to be lost altogether and personhood is called into question, each individual has an inherent value and dignity in Christ. Within the Divine Economy God is always working through the circumstances of our lives in order to bring about our salvation. Life in this world may seem unreasonable or harsh but none of it prevents God from manifesting himself in our lives and bringing us to a share in His Eternal Life.  In Letter 77, Theophan focuses upon another temptation rooted in domestic unpleasantness. Anastasia is frustrated by having to live in obedience to her parents and postponing her entrance into the monastery. This is the Evil One’s doing,Theophan tells her, and he has muddled her brain, confusing her mind with uncertainty. It is all deception, Theophan warns her and she must cross herself and drive out the temptation. It is tantamount to making mountains out of mole hills. We tend to do that with so many things in our life. Rather than fighting the good fight of faith against the evil one we will direct our frustration outward on to other people and circumstances. We must embrace those circumstances in a spirit of humility and obedience, always seeking to conform ourselves to Christ and to see our lives in light of the mystery of the Cross. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:04:47 FrDavid Abernethy, CO: No Whining. St. Theophan   00:16:14 Eric Williams: If I'm not mistaken, "idiot" formerly had a clinical definition before entering the vernacular.   00:17:48 Anthony: Like Dostoevsky's book "The Idiot," which referred to an epileptic.   00:19:43 Anthony: Herman the Lame was a hymnist and scholar and had terrible afflictions.   00:20:45 Eric Williams: https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/idiot   00:27:44 Anthony: Sometimes stark contrast helps us understand the point better; sometimes it gets in the way.   00:28:58 Rachel: When I was a child, there was a girl my same age who our family knew that was mentally retarded. My Dad told us children, that people that are born this way go straight to Heaven. That they cannot speak or they would tell all of the secrets of Heaven. Every once in a while we were all supposed to volunteer to take Stephanie out and keep her company and give her care givers a break. One Sunday, I jumped on the opportunity to be with her. I already did like to be with her but now that I thought she knew the secrets of Heaven I could not wait for my turn. She never said anything but she just grabbed my face and smile when I asked her. As I child I felt happy but jealous of her being able to go straight to Heaven.   00:37:22 Edward Kleinguetl: 21   00:38:01 Anthony: He was not even Coptic, but, i think, Ghanian   00:38:43 Rachel: Oh my goodness. They are martyrs!   00:38:46 Luiz Eduardo Lawall: This is very frustrating   00:45:56 carolediclaudio: Hahahaha love it   00:51:35 Erick Chastain: sorry my dog unmuted the mic   00:52:01 Eric Williams: Did he eat your homework, too? ;)   00:52:04 carolediclaudio: :)   00:57:16 Rafael Patrignani: very interesting! thank you. I have to leave,   00:57:31 Anthony: Evil one said "I will not sevre"   00:57:50 carolediclaudio: Bye Rafael!   00:59:18 Rachel: Wow   00:59:41 Anthony: Dom Scupoli was another who obeyed and apparently was vindicated later.   01:00:11 Rachel: Please give me the name of the other holy brother?   01:00:52 Anthony: Savonarola in Florence; Dom Scupoli was the other   01:00:56 Ben Miralles Jr.: Girolamo Savonarola   01:01:22 Rachel: Thank you   01:04:39 Rachel: lol   01:13:18 Anthony: We have been formed mentally to be like a scholastic....but without the mysticism the scholastics (like St. Thomas!) should have had. (and St. Thomas did have)   01:16:41 Jk: so true anthony   01:22:37 Eric Williams: "Everyone argues too much!" "No we don't!" ;)   01:22:59 carolediclaudio: :):)   01:30:31 Erick Chastain: Paisios also says that this age has a rampant spirit of impudence   01:30:51 Erick Chastain: Too many rebels everywhere.   01:32:04 Kmec: Thank you   01:32:17 Eric Williams: Rebels without a clue!  

Letters of Spiritual Direction to a Young Soul - Letter Seventy-Five, Part II and Letter Seventy-Six, Part I

Tonight we concluded letter 75. This letter and those that follow all focus on particular temptations that Anastasia is facing as she approaches her decision to enter into the religious life. Theophan in Letter 75 focuses on the tricks of the enemy to dissuade her or throw her into despair because of the weaknesses, sins, and poverty that she sees within herself. His counsel to her is to allow these things to humble her but not to throw her into despair. Her endurance of the struggle is for the sake of crowns, he tells her; that is, the growth and perfection of the virtues.  In letter 76, Theophan begins to focus on the temptations that come from unbelievers. These are much more subtle, he warns her, and those who engage her will seek to cram a lot of worthless garbage into her head. They might be wise and clever in the ways of the world but underneath their words can be a malicious spirit that poses a threat to her faith. She must be willing to let what they say go in one ear and out the other and not purposely expose herself to the narrow mindedness and hard heartedness of those opposed to the faith. She must examine her own bewilderment and leave no trace of it within her mind and heart. Faith is a gift of God instilled within us by our very creation. It is older and greater than education and society. These things pass on knowledge to a new generation.  However, we must understand that religious belief is part of every race because it is also the part of every man. In fact, “man is not man”, Theophan says, without it. To cast away our faith, to undermine it through neglect, is to distort and mutilate ourselves. He who does not have faith departs from the fundamental reality of who we are as human beings and in the process can make himself freakish on both a moral and psychological level. The perception and experience of reality is undermined by cutting oneself off from He who is Reality itself. Our response to this must be to embrace our faith fully and to allow it to transform us without any opposition; to allow the grace of God to inflame and purify our hearts. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:05:42 FrDavid Abernethy, CO: bottom of page 289   00:14:16 Rachel: 😐   00:18:36 Anthony: comfort -> cum forte -> with strength   00:22:31 Anthony: I learned that at least in the time of the last Tzar and Rasputin, the Russian nobility were drawn to theosophy and other dangerous curiosities.   00:29:34 Eric Williams: And by being sucked into these unproductive battles, we risk behaving as the pharisee, rather than the publican.   00:29:57 Rachel: This is so good   00:30:23 Anthony: See HIllaire Belloc, "The Free Press"   00:33:05 Rafael Patrignani: Kierkegaard' s book: 'mortal sickness' talks about that process that leads to desperation   00:33:45 Anthony: Some "Science" is just philosophy or the occult in disguise.   00:34:51 Rachel: You're not alone for sure.   00:35:28 Philip’s iPhone: I’m working in a catholic high school and I can even relate !   00:35:30 Anne Barbosa: I also avoid having lunch with my coworkers   00:35:35 Eric Williams: Alas, too often science is distorted and contorted into scientism.   00:36:15 Erick Chastain: Eric W, my catholic scientist friends call it "teh science"   00:40:01 Eric Williams: “Tolerance is an attitude of reasoned patience toward evil … a forbearance that restrains us from showing anger or inflicting punishment. Tolerance applies only to persons … never to truth. Tolerance applies to the erring, intolerance to the error" - Fulton Sheen   00:42:32 Rachel: Wow.   00:43:59 Rachel: This is so timely and helpful. When we see ans sense a lack of the spirit of generosity in the other to engage in Truth, to seek Truth, we have more of an obligation to disengage. Quickly.   00:48:17 Rafael Patrignani: objectivity is an act of love and death to ourselves   00:50:11 Philip’s iPhone: Please remind me which number letter we are discussing?   00:50:27 Philip’s iPhone: Thank you !!   00:50:51 sue and mark: 76   00:58:57 Rafael Patrignani: nowadays I think culture is in a state worse than secularised.. it's increasingly against Christianity..   00:59:31 Anthony: Pierce v Society of Sisters   01:00:08 Anthony: the state tried to destroy Catholic schools precisely due to formation   01:02:24 Erick Chastain: sadly jack Kerouac grew up catholic   01:03:06 Erick Chastain: but ironically he led me to the faith (indirectly)   01:08:36 Eric Williams: Transhumanism is a mess   01:08:48 Rachel: "Face it, you're a moral freak!" okay..yeah I could see how that could be problematic.   01:09:38 Rachel: Because it gets filtered through the perspective of a mutilated sense of self that is not* rooted in Christ.   01:09:53 Eric Williams: Great. Now I'm hearing "moral freak" being sung by Rick James in my head. ;)   01:12:31 Rachel: Oh my goodness that is already happening.   01:13:33 Carol Nypaver: Frightening….   01:13:37 Rafael Patrignani: it's old like mankind but apostasy makes it worse   01:14:28 Rafael Patrignani: the lack of the spiritual anchor puts in danger the boat   01:14:51 Anthony: Khalil Gibran, "The Wise King" poem is about societal delusion   01:23:24 St. Stanislaus Kostka Religious Education: I am most turned off by the turn of some religious people pointing at others rather than asking for God’s grace that we ourselves become fire.  As I think of the saints of renewal they seem to be more about the fire of the spirit rather than blame of others   01:24:39 Mitchell Hunt: Thanks Father David   01:25:26 Mitchell Hunt: Still uploading to YouTube afterwards?   01:26:10 Eric Williams: Easier to keep trolls and spammers out via Zoom, too   01:28:18 Rachel: Thank you!   01:28:23 Mitchell Hunt: Awesome appreciate the pod bean archive 👍  

The Evergetinos - Vol. I, Hypothesis XVIII, Part I

This evening we began Hypothesis 18 on the importance of seeking the company of virtuous people and the benefits of questioning them with zeal and desiring to learn from them. In many ways this is an important hypothesis for the modern mind; to understand the need to be docile, that is, teachable. We must learn to be humble in our approach to the mystery of God‘s revelation of himself to us and his son. We will always be in the position of learners. Likewise, we will never be beyond needing instruction in the life of faith from those who have an experiential knowledge of striving to enter by the narrow path.  In fact, we have the distinct responsibility, the fathers tell us, to either learn with sincerity what we do not know or to teach with clarity whatever we have learned. There is no static position in the life of faith. If we believe so, we fall into a kind of madness that ends with apostasy. Part of our desire for instruction is our desire for God and our yearning for him. We should always be thirsty to understand the ways of the Lord.  It has been said that a starving man has no sense of taste. We see this in our own generation. The failure to teach the faith and the pass on an understanding of the spiritual life has led to a void so deep that men and women have begun to search far and wide for something to nourish them; despite the fact that they have what is most precious already in their possession. Even if we seem to understand nothing or we see no immediate change within us - as if we ignored the teaching of the elders - we should be confident that the seed they planted will eventually bear fruit. Furthermore, simply being in the presence of those who are holy engraves on the soul the immutable archetype of virtue. Simply being in the presence of one who loves God can instill that same love and devotion within our hearts. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:10:06 FrDavid Abernethy, CO: page 134 Hypothesis XVIII   00:24:00 Forrest Cavalier: Mt 13:12 To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.   00:31:44 Ashley Kaschl: Gotta run 👋   00:37:01 Erick: that liturgical culture is still there at your local FSSP Latin mass parish   00:38:10 Erick: even rogation days don't make sense in the present day liturgical calendar   00:38:34 Erick: it did make sense in the 1962 calendar.... we have lost the syntax   00:38:53 Carol Nypaver: Or Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest Latin Mass. 😇   00:39:07 Erick: indeed carol!   00:39:40 Eric Williams: I’m worried that Traditionis Custodes will make it harder for Westerners to rediscover traditions like rogation days or more “rigorous” fasting. (I don’t bring TC up to be controversial. I’m really quite sad for the future of venerable traditions in the West.)   00:39:57 Forrest Cavalier: I attend FSSP, Ordinary Form, and Byzantine. No one is safe from new deceits of Satan, at any parish.   00:41:05 Erick: it's funny because TC is making it easier to access rogation days etc in the short run. but in the long run agreed.   00:41:37 Erick: (because TLM attendance has gone up since TC came out)   01:09:57 Rachel: That is the exact thing that stuck with me as well! I went to a Mass many years before my conversion and everyone was kneeling and focused on Our Lord. I had no. idea. what was happening before me. Bit it stuck with me.   01:11:46 Forrest Cavalier: She might be Byzantine. They stand for that part of Liturgy!   01:13:17 Rachel: lol   01:15:33 Ambrose Little: Well, I’m gonna be the odd man out here.. I too have gone to TLM masses for years, and I like it and appreciate it, but…    One doesn’t need rogation days, particular ways of celebrating the mass, or the old calendar to imbue one’s daily life with the Faith. We have a current Church calendar. It is packed with memorials and feasts for saints, Our Lady, and the life of Christ. We have Lent. We have Advent. We have Eastertide. We have Christmastide. We have the Divine Office—you can fill your day with prayer, seven times a day if you wish—and more. The Holy Mass is remarkably available for most of us—even I here in the boonies have two reasonably close daily masses. There are many third orders, institutes, associations, and more (e.g., programs like This Man is You, King’s Men, etc.) that offer ways of more fully practicing the faith with the help of others.   If we can’t imbue our lives with the Faith with all these available to us, then the problem isn’t with the Church, it is with us.   01:17:01 Vicki Nichols: I agree with you Ambrose   01:17:55 Erick: we are human ambrose LOL. The Church should make it easier, not harder   01:20:16 Rachel: The Liturgy affects the way you pray and what a person believes and how understands and relates to God and the world around them. It all starts there and ends there, from Communion to Communion.   01:20:34 Erick: and the Church, when she takes things away or alters them to be less helpful, actually hurts our process of becoming imbued with the faith. as st Thomas says, we learn through the senses   01:22:14 Rachel: Yes!   01:22:22 Ambrose Little: Everything I listed is there to help, and more. There are oodles of helps. Many people live vibrant, faith-filled lives happily without missing the older forms/devotions. Have to be careful about projecting personal preferences out as if they are objectively superior.   01:23:22 Rachel: Thank you all and Father!  

The Evergetinos - Vol. I, Hypothesis XVII

Tonight we read Hypothesis 17 on what we build our hope upon in this life. The focus of the hypothesis, on the surface, is avarice and greed; the intensity of this passion and the insatiability of our desire for worldly goods. We are given one story after another revealing to us, however, that the real struggle is found within the heart. There is a kind of tendency within us toward idolatry or better said in the context of our relationship with God adultery. We attach ourselves to the things of this world, we love them and desire them in the fashion that we should only love God. God is the pearl of great price, the treasure hidden in the field. He who has faith and sees the value of this love should be willing to set aside all to process it. Like St Paul, we should see all as rubbish in comparison to the love of God that we receive in Christ Jesus. We are shown in the stories the subtlety of this kind of avarice even to the point of commodifying spiritual acts and deeds. We can see them as possessions arising out of the self and the desire for self-preservation rather than the love of God. We are warned that this passion can become so rooted within us that it cannot be subjugated. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” --- Text of chat during the group: 00:25:23 Mark Kelly: A friend recently commented that Modern culture is now based on addiction.  Addicting us to many perceived needs.   00:25:48 Ashley Kaschl: 💯   00:26:05 John Breslin: 👍   00:37:54 Anthony: "MY PRECIOUS!!!!!"   00:38:26 Anthony: I didn't appreciate that LOTR was a commentary on basic vices.   00:38:33 Rachel: Me too   00:40:45 Mark Kelly: A great point about LOTR.  Most of the “desire” for the ring relies on the imagination of the one who covet’s it.  The power of The Ring is never fully demonstrated.  The lust for the imagined power alone is another to lead the soul to destruction.   00:41:50 Anthony: Oh wow, thanks, Mark.   00:45:55 Rachel: It reminds me of the Franz Jaggerstatter film   00:49:04 Rachel: When one truly seeks silence, internal and external as much as possible while living in the world, it seems to me Our Lord will provide many experiences of having to cling only to Him. There are sufferings in people's lives that can be like the cell or the desert in the midst of community etc.   00:56:10 Rachel: That quote made my 18 y.o. laugh out loud and say I love that. Never heard that quote before!   00:59:26 Anthony: And our Anglo American law is very much about acquiring wealth and keeping it in the family.  It militates against virtue, and is a "schoolmaster" in vice.   01:08:52 John Breslin: Fruit of the poisonous tree…   01:10:40 maureencunningham: What is the name of the book she reading?   01:12:20 Forrest Cavalier: John   01:12:32 Carol Nypaver: Josef Pieper Virtues of the Human Heart   01:12:33 Ashley Kaschl: A brief reader on the virtues of the human heart by Josef Pieper   01:16:00 Mark Kelly: I love Fr. Lazarus   01:16:39 maureencunningham: Thank You   01:17:14 Ashley Kaschl: Here’s the prayer of self-offering, too 😁    Receive, Lord, my entire freedom.
Accept the whole of my memory,
my intellect and my will.
Whatever I have or possess,
it was you who gave it to me;
I restore it to you in full,
and I surrender it completely
to the guidance of your will.
Give me only love of you
together with your grace,
and I am rich enough
and ask for nothing more.
 Amen.   01:18:03 maureencunningham: Beautiful thank you   01:18:25 Anthony: Weight of the heart goes along with the fire burning the gold, too. The philosophical property of earth was heaviness.  The property of fire was lightness.  We can either cooperate with the lightness of God's fire, or God's fire will just conquer the heaviness of earth against our will.   01:19:18 maureencunningham: Blessing Thank You   01:20:08 Anne Barbosa: Thank you!   01:20:08 Rachel: Thank you!   01:20:47 Rachel: Yay!!   01:20:54 Natalia Andreu: Thank you!   01:20:55 Rachel: Thank you! Perfect timing  

Letters of Spiritual Direction to a Young Soul - Letter Seventy-Five, Part I

We began this evening with letter 75 entitled “The tricks of the enemy.” Anastasia has fallen into sadness inexplicably. Her heart is overcome with heaviness and darkness. Theophan, therefore, wants her to understand exactly what is going on: she is engaged in spiritual warfare and these are the attacks of the enemy.  However, he exhorts her, “the power of the cross is with us! Take heart and stand fast.”She need not fear the enemy that is attacking her and approaching her from every side, creating such a disturbance that her world seems to be turned upside down. She must simply cope as well as she can and be long-suffering in the battle knowing that it will pass. She need only “not consent” to anything that is not necessary. Similar to Job, Anastasia must thank the Lord both for the times that are peaceful as well as the times of difficulty. She must simply throw herself before the Lord with her whole being as well as call upon the Mother of God to intercede on her behalf.  Theophan does not deny that she is suffering attack. However, he wants her to be like a soldier; steeling herself against the enemy’s attacks, unwilling to change her intention or decision one iota. She must struggle and renounce his suggestions and curse them. The more that the evil one murmurs in her ears the more she must call out to Christ and simply express her belief even when all seems shrouded in darkness. She must state clearly “I do not want any of this, anything the enemy suggest.” Rather, he tells her, she must want one thing; to “speak solemnly before the Lord in her heart.”  Fight the good fight of faith even when you find yourself thrown down and seemingly overcome. --- Text of chat during the group:  00:22:47 Lyle: Do NOT consent!  Each of us KNOWS, yes KNOWS, where we are spiritually weak.  If you can not do anything else, pray - "Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner!  Cleanse my thoughts!  Cleanse my heart!  MAKE my thoughts, YOUR thoughts!"   00:23:20 Edward Kleinguetl: Amen!   00:33:51 Lyle: Even the Archangels do NOT battle the demons directly.  Michael on behalf of God Almighty, as a representative of His kingdom said "The Lord rebuke thee."   00:40:12 Lyle: Deuteronomy 31:6.  Be strong AND courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them (distractions, demons, etc.) , for the LORD your God goes WITH you; he will NEVER leave you nor forsake you.”   00:49:52 renwitter: “The Asceticism of Joy”   00:55:05 Rafael Patrignani: we know and live the perfection of love in the trials. are we with God or not?   00:57:00 Sharon: Reading and praying over “Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, the secret of peace and happiness” has helped  me, Anthony.   00:57:13 Lyle: John 14:27.  Our Lord, HIMSELF said, “Peace I leave with you, MY peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let NOT your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”   01:17:45 Cathy: Very well said Erick   01:22:38 Miron Kerul Kmec: Thank you Father  

The Evergetinos - Vol. I, Hypothesis XV, Part V and Hypothesis XVI

Tonight in our reading of The Evergetinos we concluded Hypothesis 15 and read the entirety of Hypothesis 16. Both have a similar focus: our natural loves and affections for others or the things of this world are to be set aside for the love of God in the kingdom. We must acknowledge that all things begin and end with God and all things come to us from His hand. Simply put - all is grace and our acknowledgment of this truth should give us a kind of freedom to set aside or worldly attachments be they bad or good. Once again, we are presented with multiple illustrative stories that challenge our sensibilities. We see individuals who heroically struggle to let go of worldly ties, not because they are evil but in order to be able to embrace not just the greater good but that which is eternal. Even that which is good, even our virtues must be perfected by the grace of God. In many different ways we can be willful; we can choose paths, even those that are religious in nature, because they appeal to her sensibilities rather than being clearly something that God demands. We must let go of the illusion that we are the source of life and salvation. It is a particularly modern notion of creating a better world or acting to bring about societal change as the object of the deepest aspiration of a person’s life. All that we read from the lives of the Saints shows that they see things through the lens of God’s revelation of Himself to us in His Son.  Our dignity and destiny as human beings is found in Christ and it is Him that we must seek and devote ourselves to completely. It is only when all things are subordinated to Him that we come to see our lives and others with a kind of clarity. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:09:01 Rachel: Oh darn, Im too late! lol   00:11:41 Daniel Allen: Where are we at?   00:11:58 Carol Nypaver: 123   00:16:59 Anthony: This may be the movie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhKorITYvDU   00:44:03 Rachel: I LOVE that story! Because I am a twin, so I understand very much!   00:45:02 Rachel: Wait, weren't they twin brother and sister? I could be wrong...   00:45:33 renwitter: Yes :-)   00:52:38 Anthony: This story also indicates that the monastics were not completely cut of from their families....St. Ioannikos had to have known of his brother-in-law's rage for him to pray for his brother-in-law.   00:54:34 Rachel: :)   01:00:07 jack: Their human dignity   01:01:30 Rachel: Please share the talk by Kallistos Ware!🙏🏼   01:02:10 Anthony: This disfigurement of the image of ChristI think distinguishes our understanding of sin from _Total Depravity_ of the Calvinists.   01:03:00 Rachel: WOw, wow, wow! Thank you!!   01:03:12 Erick Chastain: that's great!   01:05:09 renwitter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Body_of_the_Dead_Christ_in_the_Tomb   01:08:15 Erick Chastain: which book by Mectilde de bar are you reading now?   01:08:17 Rachel: Oh my goodness. One of my favorite readings.   01:08:33 renwitter: Breviary of Fire   01:08:42 Erick Chastain: thanks   01:09:17 Daniel Allen: What caryll hauls lander book was that quote from?   01:10:46 Carol: I think it may be Rocking-Horse Catholic   01:12:29 Daniel Allen: Thanks   01:13:44 Rachel: I had never heard Fr. Abernathy's interpretation but the one Anthony stated. I don't think they conflict though, as the intention of the heart, the lengths this child was willing to go to in order to live the life of a monk in this community.   01:16:35 Rachel: Yes, exactly. This is one special case.   01:17:03 Rachel: St. Rose of Lima used to try to make her face ugly.   01:17:37 Rachel: Not because she thought the gift of beauty was bad.   01:19:06 Rachel: It is jarring because of the reality of disordered passions.   01:19:26 Anthony: Sometimes the young saints need correctives: like St Simeon Stylite went too far in his penances.  We need to be sane, not crazy.   01:20:23 Erick Chastain: Some are fools for Christ   01:21:01 Rachel: Yes, I do not tell my non Catholic family or, even some fellow Catholic these stories of the Saints. Because I think it would cause scandal and be too jarring.   01:22:40 Forrest Cavalier: In the story here, if the scandal was temptation, the knowledge of paternity was not enough to protect him in one skete, and he expresses doubts that it will go better when it is not known. He was desperate.   01:24:40 Ambrose Little: Doesn’t seem to follow why they’d focus on the paternity, if it were just youthful attractiveness? Maybe nepotism? Maybe they had a rule against father-son in same monastery?   01:25:41 renwitter: I agree. It seems to me that the scandal really was the Paternity   01:26:36 Anthony: I usually thought of nepotism in Middle Ages. It didn't occur to me to read it here.  It could fit.   01:26:48 renwitter: Why else would the problem the son presents be that everyone knows they are Father and Son, and they will know it at the next place to? I thought he disfigured himself so that no one would see the resemblance.   01:29:00 Ambrose Little: I always look at the particularly self-disciplining saints as a kind of object lesson—they are showing just how far we are from where we ought to be. The saintliness came first; they were called to these penances, presumably, for a reason, if their wills were unified with God’s, as is the idea for sanctification.   01:29:57 sue and mark: while I do not know much, I have always heard that holiness is always beautifully balanced.   01:30:51 Rachel: Thank you, God bless!   01:31:10 David Fraley: This was great! Thank you!  

Letters of Spiritual Direction to a Young Soul - Letter Seventy-Four

Thank you to everyone who participated in tonight's group on St. Theophan's Letters on the Spiritual Life to Anastasia.  Great conversation as always. Synopsis: Tonight we read letter 74 entitled “Yearning for the monastic life”. Anastasia has made a decision to enter the monastery; she has decided to give herself over completely to God in mind and body. And yet, Theophan senses within her a kind of urgency that is pressing her forward and making her want to rush the moment of her entrance. He wants her, however, to pray and wait with patience. He does not want her to enter the religious life in a willful fashion precisely because she’s entering in order to set aside her will in the spirit of obedience. Thus, she should strive to let God act in her life and open the door for her to enter in the time He desires. For the moment she is to focus upon embracing the life of a monastic at home; deepening her spiritual life, living in obedience to her parents, making herself a novice in relationship to all of her siblings. She is to be, as it were, a soldier in training; humbling herself and preparing herself for the rigors of the religious life. Such waiting takes nothing from her. In fact it serves her by allowing her to mature emotionally and spiritually precisely that she might endure in her vocation.  He reminds her of the history behind such a vocation. In the beginning monasteries did not exist - nor vows. What existed were men and women filled with a desire and yearning for God and it is this spirit that she must foster. She must enflame the desire for God within her own heart by being faithful in the moment. She must wait and adapt her life and her habits to those in the monastery. But most of all she must wait upon the Lord who says “Come follow Me”! --- Text of chat during the group: 00:06:26 Rachel: How do I get a snazzy picture like that??   00:19:23 Anthony: And some people had her religious desire, but God (I suppose) chose them never to enter a community, such as Benedict Labre or the Pilgrim of the Russian classic.   00:28:05 Edward Kleinguetl: "Gentle, organic approach" -- love it!   00:31:20 Anthony: FYI under the Lombard Laws of the 600's to about 800s or so, Vowed and nonvowed persons living a religious life were both recognized as having special protection against violation by criminals.  One living the life but not vowed as treated as or just about as at the state of a religious person.   00:38:09 Anthony: "The Ancient Path" is Talbot's book about his community   01:14:26 Wayne Mackenzie: got to go see you monday   01:16:24 Anthony: We in the West are sometimes formed by a relatively small cadre of Western Catholics, too....and that is magnified by the psychologies of certain persons who choose messages to magnify to the rest of us.   01:17:11 Rachel: I do have to say that put here in California, I am  blessed with a wonderful grace filled parish. 🙏   01:17:31 Edward Kleinguetl: Rachel, that is great!   01:20:38 Rachel: Even though I do and have encountered hesitation about the desert Fathers, when I point out how there are western Saints who teach and lived the same way, who loved the desert Fathers and read quotes from the desert Fathers, people start usually listening. I then refer them to the Oratory talks.   01:21:27 Edward Kleinguetl: Evagrios the Solitary: “If you are a theologian you truly pray. If you truly pray you are a theologian.”  This is what we lost in the West when spirituality was separated from theology.   01:21:48 Rachel: I think I am, but, have never been. I know about th Orthodox parish downtown and go pray Vespers sometimes with them. a beautiful church.   01:22:02 Rachel: I am in Sacramento.   01:23:45 Rachel: I'm I'm rad Trad too lol   01:24:15 Anthony: Pope Francis elevated St. Gregory of Narek as Dr of the Church though he was canonically in Armenian Apostolic Church.  And WOW is Gregory's works beautiful.   01:24:45 Edward Kleinguetl: Details 😀   01:26:39 Miron Kerul Kmec: Thank you Father  

The Evergetinos - Vol. I, Hypothesis XV, Part IV

Thank you once again to everyone who participated in tonight's group on The Evergetinos. Your deep reading of the text always inspires me and fills me with a greater thirst and desire for Christ and a more radical embrace of the Gospel. Synopsis: We continued our reading of Hypothesis 15, reflecting upon the kind of exile that the monks embraced; an exile that was not rooted in a hatred of the world but rather in an absolute response to Christ’s call “follow me”.  In this the monks become living icons of the gospel and of Christ who said that his food was to do the will of the heavenly Father.  Over and over again in the stories we are taken into a deeper view of the nature of love. Our love as human beings must be perfected by the grace of God and directed by His providence for it to be a bear fruit that is worthy of the kingdom and that will endure. In this sense we must be guided by prudence; not simply responding to our first emotional reaction to certain circumstances nor allowing ourselves to be drawn into things that might stir the remembrance of things that can lead us away from God’s Providential will into self-will. We are, in our lives, to be guided by the Spirit of God and to put on the mind of Christ.  This is the focal point of our lives; not being catalysts for social change in the world but rather allowing the grace of God to be the catalyst of change within our hearts. We are to be guided by the virtues that have God as their object - faith, hope, and love. These alone draw us to God’s desired end which is life in Him and Love eternal. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:07:55 FrDavid Abernethy, CO: Sorry Dave Fraley.  No snacks   00:08:27 D Fraley: Oh. It was good to see you anyway. Good night!   00:08:37 FrDavid Abernethy, CO: haha   00:24:07 Carol Nypaver: Page?   00:24:17 Ashley Kaschl: 121   00:24:26 Carol Nypaver: TY   00:24:48 Ashley Kaschl: No prob   00:30:19 Rachel: What? Willfull in our acts of charity?? 🙏🏼🙇🏼‍♀️   00:32:11 Mark Kelly: Another desert story about being “on fire.”                   Abba Lot went to see abba Joseph and he said to him, "Abba, as far as I can, I  say my  little office, I fast a  little, I pray  and meditate, I live in peace  and as  far as I can I  purify my thoughts. What else  can I do?" Then the old  man stood up and streched his hands toward heaven; his fingers became like ten  lamps of  fire and he said to  him, "If you will, you  can become  all flame."   00:33:29 Ambrose Little: Maybe Joseph did crack Jesus upside the head for that, so that’s why He went ahead and performed a miracle.   00:53:32 Rachel: Yes, The asceticism of the thoughts, taking every thought captive, can seem to make one feel as if they are doing violence to themselves. In a way, they are, to their old self. But, I heard a priest once say no to do violence to oneself. The only way I reconciled this seeming contradiction of my experience and Father's advice, is to go and stay with Christ. The priests cannot heal what has been broken, only Christ can so it forces one to stay, with Christ and be patient to let Christ heal, the heart in His way, in His time.   00:54:15 Rachel: Ugh, this was meant for Father Abernathy.   01:17:08 Forrest Cavalier: It has to be both/and, not either/or. Christianity meets the world in its present.   01:17:24 Rachel: Yes, very happy note! lol   01:18:19 Eric Williams: Gee, are you saying the Church shouldn’t enthusiastically deploy reliable catalysts for change? ;)   01:19:12 Rachel: Yes Ren!! Thank you!!   01:19:31 Ambrose Little: We gotta also avoid substituting seeking exceptionalism for authentic discipleship.   01:19:33 Forrest Cavalier: Can we say "apostles" instead of "reliable catalysts for change"?   01:20:00 Eric Williams: I got that whole phrase from a corporate buzzword generator ;)   01:20:23 Forrest Cavalier: Oh, good. I thought it came from a synodality document!   01:20:37 Forrest Cavalier: A little of both, Father.   01:21:58 Forrest Cavalier: Amen!   01:23:41 Miron Kerul Kmec: Thank you Father   01:23:47 Rachel: Thank you God bless!   01:23:49 Mitchell Hunt: thank you   01:23:50 D Fraley: Thank you, Father!  

Letters of Spiritual Direction to a Young Soul - Letter Seventy-Three, Part II

Tonight we concluded letter 73 to Anastasia. Once again St. Theophan is seeking to help prepare her for the path that God has called her to take. Even though she is still living at home she is not to remove her hand, as it were, from the plow or look back. She must keep her focus intently upon Christ and not lose that gaze even for a moment. Walk circumspectly, he tells her. Guard your heart in all the ways that you have been shown -  for God is a jealous God and would have your heart completely. In the rarest of ways she is to be the spouse of Christ, giving herself to him in mind and body and with an undivided heart. She must even admonish herself at times - knowing that she cannot rely upon her zeal or constancy.  A life that is lived in half measures is destined for great sadness. This is true and whatever station in life or vocation we find ourselves. The consecrated virgin becomes for us the eschatological sign par excellence; we are destined to share in the fullness of the life of the holy Trinity and to be wrapped in an eternal love that would have us completely. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:32:38 Mark Cummings: The Carmelites describe our union with Christ as a mystical union that is vastly superior to whatever bonds of union may be found in a physical or moral body...a real union, so real that it surpasses all the others "as the grace surpasses nature, and immortal realities surpass perishable realities"   00:36:16 Anthony: A family ideally is a little "monastery," in my opinion, exercising humility, and caring for each other to bring each other to Heaven....and when children grow up and marry, they establish "daughter monasteries" of their initial family.   00:37:13 Mitchell Hunt: Important topic, I think the even the  married can be internally chaste (withdrawn from lust and the sexual spasm).  Similarly a "celebate" can be not chaste behind  closed doors   00:46:17 Mark Cummings: As many know, Saint JPII has some great writing on sexuality and love. https://www.jp2.info/JP2_on_Love-Responsibility.pdf   00:49:14 Anthony: 1 Cor 7:14....the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the believing wife.   00:49:37 Anthony: If wifehood is not holiness, she cannot make him holy.   00:52:49 Anthony: 1 Cor 7:7 "but everyone has his proper gift from God"   00:56:23 renwitter: I’ve always loved the term grindstone for the people in our lives who help make us holy. Sandpaper is a good one too though :-D   01:00:26 Anthony: Grindstone - I make my own tools for chasing and repousse.  Grindstones and sandpaper are _indispensable_ to getting a polished tool face.  If your tools are good, you can make a thing of beauty.   01:02:09 Mark Cummings: We must embrace our crosses.   01:15:28 Miron Kerul Kmec: Thank you   01:15:47 Anthony: OK PAdre  

The Evergetinos - Vol. I, Hypothesis XV, Part III

Picking up once again with Hypothesis 15, we find ourselves considering the nature of detachment from the things of the world; a detachment that is rooted first and foremost in our response to the love that God has shown and given us and his only begotten son. What does our embrace of this divine love means for our lives in this world?  To take hold of this godly love what is there of the self and our attachment to the things of this world that we must be let go?  So often there are subtle ways that we will cling to natural sensibilities and loves and we view our lives through that lens alone. Yet the Incarnation and the Paschal Mystery is meant to radically reshape our view of what it is to be a human being both in relationship to God and to one another. Our dignity and destiny is caught up in what has been given to us through our baptism - a share in the divine life. It is the faith and hope that this reality evokes that must guide our lives and the decisions that we make.  Inevitably the stories that we read from the fathers of the desert jar our sensibilities, especially when they are very much tied to a worldly perspective. In many ways we must allow ourselves to experience the discomfort of having our perspective on life challenged so radically. God has turned our world upside down in revealing Himself to us. It is that revelation that must shape all we do and our understanding of life.  --- Text of chat during the group: 00:03:52 Randi Altman: 🙏   00:11:33 Vicki Nichols: the video is really good. Jerzy Popieluzsko is a very inspiring person   00:38:38 Anthony: I've studied Socialism (philosophically and politically) for years.  Socialism is the tyranny that comes from bringing men's vision of "god" and men onto the earth - and you will like it, so to speak.   00:44:06 Anthony: Like St. Paul: 'I begged God three times to take away this thorn of the flesh, but 'My grace is sufficient for thee.''   00:51:03 Ambrose Little: Christ got told “no” by God, when he asked that “this cup might pass from me.” He needed to live in solidarity with we humans.   00:53:24 Randi Altman: It’s not responsiblity. It is an incredibly beautiful grace!!!   00:58:33 Ambrose Little: You were reading the Bible, largely. ;)   01:07:34 Randi Altman: He wanted or expected more of his son   01:18:45 Randi Altman: Be thankful to have hairs!🤣   01:19:14 Daniel Allen: Perfect closing insight.   01:19:55 Michael Winn: Thank you, Father! (my first time here - Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest in Winnipeg)   01:19:57 Randi Altman: Thank you for having me   01:20:19 maureencunningham: When. Saint John   01:20:23 Mitchell Hunt: thanks Father David   01:20:33 D Fraley: Good night!