Where are we in the spiritual battle? Do we understand the virtues that are generally most necessary in the pursuit of virtue? So often in our day, we approach the spiritual life in a piecemeal fashion, gleaning from the writing of saints things that speak to our own particular sensibilities. But are any of these things going to help us address the dominant passions that we struggle with?
We cannot be lazy in the labors of the spiritual life. We are blessed to be able to sit at the feet of the great elders and those who speak from experience. And yet, as with so many things in our day, we would have things come in our own time and in the way that we desire. Christianity overturns our perception of reality. What it means to love, what is truth, all comes into view only through the person of Christ. The shape of the Christian life is cruciform – always involving a dying to self and sin, and rising to new life in Christ. We must cast off the old man in order to put on the mind of Christ. Lacking discernment we may find ourselves being guided by the demons and settling into mediocrity or the embrace of selfishness and sin that merely is an aping of virtue.
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Text of chat during the group:
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXVI: On Discernment, Part XI
The Evergetinos: Book Two - Hypothesis X, Part II
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXVI: On Discernment, Part X
The Evergetinos: Book Two - Hypothesis IX, Part II and Hypothesis X, Part I
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXVI: On Discernment, Part IX
The Evergetinos: Book Two - Hypothesis VIII, Part II and Hypothesis IX, Part I
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXVI: On Discernment, Part XIII
The Evergetinos: Book Two - Hypothesis VIII, Part I
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXVI: On Discernment, Part XII
The Evergetinos: Book Two - Hypothesis VI, Part II and Hypothesis VII
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXVI: On Discernment, Part XI
The Evergetinos: Book Two - Hypothesis IV, Part III
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXVI: On Discernment, Part X
The Evergetinos: Book Two - Hypothesis IV, Part II and Hypothesis V
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXVI: On Discernment, Part IX
The Evergetinos: Book Two - Hypothesis III, Part IV and Hypothesis IV, Part I
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXVI: On Discernment, Part VIII
The Evergetinos: Book Two - Hypothesis III, Part III
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXVI: On Discernment, Part VII
The Evergetinos: Book Two - Hypothesis III, Part II
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