With each passing week, as we read St. John’s thoughts on discernment, we begin to see how it touches every aspect of our life. So often we confuse this gift with intellectually analyzing the circumstances around us or internal experiences and feelings or our perception of others’ actions.
Yet discernment is not rooted in our private judgment. Rather, it arises out of union and communion with He who is Truth and Love. We engage in the ascetic life and seek purity of heart in order that we comprehend the truth unimpeded, to see things as God sees them and to see and respond to what he wants us to perceive.
Anything less than this leaves us completely vulnerable. St. John says, “let us watch and see which demon uplift us, which cast us down, which harden, which comfort, which darken, which pretend to communicate enlightenment to us, which make us slothful, which make us cunning, which make us sad, and which cheerful.” It is only in Christ that we have the capacity to see these things. Strength and virtue of any kind comes not from climbing up a ladder of virtue on our own, but rather having Christ live within us. His virtue must become our virtue and his strength must becomes our strength. This is a difficult thing because it means letting go completely of the illusion that we can see the truth of the spiritual realities outside of our relationship with Him. It means being humble.
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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
The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XXIX, Part III
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter V: On Repentance, Part IV and Chapter VI: On Remembrance of Death, Part I
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