There are certain moments while reading the fathers when one trembles. The truth expressed is so vivid and pierces so deeply that the experience of it is visceral. One is shaken. This is not easy to endure, and perhaps there are moments when reading such texts becomes a stumbling block for our minds and our hearts. However, when they speak the truth of Christ and when they reveal the depth of love that we are called to in Him, ultimately these words are healing. The fathers, in so many ways, are spiritual physicians. Their words cut like a scalpel and cut deeply. But they cut out the “rot” as John describes it. The remembrance of wrongs, which is the offspring of anger, is not something that we can remove on our own. Untreated it spreads like a cancer. The fact, John tells us it has no offspring because it poisons the soul so completely that it makes us incapable of love.
May God give us the grace to listen with humility and gratitude. We are given such loving fathers who desire nothing but our healing. When we begin to trust that, then their words become as bright and illuminating as the sun.
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Text of chat during the group:
The Evergetinos - Vol I, Hypothesis XX, Part II
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter One: On Renunciation, Part VII
The Evergetinos -Vol I, Hypothesis XX, Part I
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter One: On Renunciation, Part VI
The Evergetinos - Vol I, Hypothesis XIX, Part IV
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter One: On Renunciation, Part V
The Evergetinos - Vol. I, Hypothesis XIX, Part III
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter One: On Renunciation, Part IV
The Evergetinos - Vol. I, Hypothesis XIX, Part II
Repentance: Life’s Continual Effort
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter One: On Renunciation, Part III
The Evergetinos - Vol. I, Hypothesis XVIII, Part V and Hypothesis XIX, Part I
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter One: On Renunciation, Part II
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter One: On Renunciation, Part I
The Evergetinos - Vol. I, Hypothesis XVIII, Part IV
Letters of Spiritual Direction to a Young Soul - Letter Seventy-Eight, Part II and Letter Seventy-Nine
The Evergetinos - Vol. I, Hypothesis XVIII, Part III
Enter By The Narrow Gate: The Ascetic Podvig of Living in the World
Letters of Spiritual Direction to a Young Soul - Letter Seventy-Seven, Part II
The Evergetinos - Vol. I, Hypothesis XVIII, Part II
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