The Mystery of the Human Person!
What comes forward in the ascetical writings of the fathers is not a moralistic or legalistic view of sin. Rather, we see within them a deep understanding of the complex beauty and dignity of the human person despite often being marred by sin. Perhaps too often we emphasize the negative; rather than fostering a desire both for God and for virtue and for the freedom and joy that it brings to the human heart.
Like so many of the fathers, Saint John describes certain passions as a disease in need of remedy. While we must be disciplined in so many ways and vigilant in our thoughts, we never want to lose sight of how God has created us; that it is through our very being that we love and give ourselves in love. We are not meant to hate ourselves but rather sin. Self-contempt can often be our demise in the spiritual life. True love of the self begins with the desire for God; not with self-indulgence or laziness that reduces and diminishes the image we have of creation and our own goodness.
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Text of chat during the group:
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter IX: On Remembrance of Wrongs, Part II and Chapter X: On Slander or Calumny, Part I
The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XXXIII, Part IV
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter IX: On Remembrance of Wrongs, Part I
The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XXXIII, Part III
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter VIII: On Freedom from Anger, Part III
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter VIII: On Freedom from Anger, Part II
The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XXXIII, Part II
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter VII: On Joy-Making Mourning, Part VII and Chapter VIII: On Freedom from Anger, Part I
The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XXXII, Part IV and Hypothesis XXXIII, Part I
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter VII: On Joy-Making Mourning, Part VI
The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XXXII, Part III
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter VII: On Joy-Making Mourning, Part V
The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XXXII, Part II
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter VII: On Joy-Making Mourning, Part IV
The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XXXI, Part II and XXXII, Part I
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter VII: On Joy-Making Mourning, Part III
The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XXXI, Part I
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter VII: On Joy-Making Mourning, Part II
The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XXX, Part I
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter VI: On the Remembrance of Death and Chapter VII: On Joy-Making Mourning
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