The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XLIV, Part III and Hypothesis XLV, Part I

Humility often eludes us not only in practice but in our ability to understand it. As always, we have to look to Christ as the standard. What we see revealed in him through the incarnation and in the Paschal mystery opens the door for us to begin to walk this same path. 

Understanding comes through experience. We must be shown what humility is and be made humble through experience. So often the self seeks to place itself at the center of existence; and in our spiritual life we begin to lose sight of God. Even in the pursuit of sanctity, we can fail to see the ways that we are lacking purity of heart. We often do not desire God above all things, or make him the beginning and end of all that we do. We may toil but to no end. 

Having said this, the stories from the fathers begin to reveal to us the distinctive marks of humility in a man. These stories show us why it is not only the most important virtue but also the most powerful. It overcomes all that is demonic. The more we trust solely in the grace of God, the more we abandon ourselves to his mercy and acknowledge the poverty due to our sin, the more his grace transforms us and acts through us and touches the lives of others. Humility and its perfection goes beyond truthful living or acknowledging the truth about ourselves. It is having eyes only for God. It is living in him and for him in every measure.

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Text of chat during the group:

00:06:23 FrDavid Abernethy: page 385 paragraph 6

 

00:06:31 FrDavid Abernethy: page 384 para 6

 

00:25:02 Anthony: Emphasis on kindness....sounds like something St Gabriel of Georgia said.

 

00:38:56 Anthony: Yes

 

00:38:56 Jacqulyn: Yes

 

00:46:31 Louise: Would the Desert Fathers agree or disagree with the following. Hating sins makes us ''relate'' to sins and instills hatred inside of us. I prefer to practice detachment from sins, as much as possible, and feel sorrow at having turned my back to God.

 

00:54:48 Lee Graham: As I forgive someone who hurts me, I see my sin disappear.

 

01:13:17 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂