The Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian - Homily I, Part IV

Again, already in these first paragraphs of Homily One what comes forward most powerfully in Saint Isaac‘s writing is that the ascetic life is driven by love and desire for God. More accurately, one might say that it is the soul’s response to God‘s revelation of His love, mercy and compassion to us in His only begotten Son. 

Therefore, Isaac can speak of things such as shame not in the sense of diminishing an individual’s self-identity but rather as a veil protecting the mind and the heart for Christ alone. As one purifies the heart one begins to see with a greater clarity those things that can diminish one’s capacity to love and to see that which is good in God and others. Thus, while shame mortifies us it also protects us from being led indiscriminately by our thoughts and desires. 

One of the blessings that God has given to us in order to purify the heart is the scriptures. We are exhorted to have a fervent love of instruction; to fill the mind and the heart with the words and deeds of Christ. In doing so we create a new habit of mind that directs the soul toward God in such a way that we put behind us and even forget everything that is a distraction from this greater reality. We are surrounded by the noise of the world and in kind of thoughtless fashion we allow ourselves to be led away from what endures unto eternity or what is uplifting. However, when the mind is captivated by the divine word, it can be filled with such wonder that it becomes unaware of even thoughts that are associated with our basic human needs - when our last meal was or how the night has passed away so quickly.

The ascetic life, therefore, is not about self perfection or endurance. Rather, it is a recognition of our identity in Christ. We are made in the image and likeness of God and by his grace and his redemptive love we are being drawn into the very life of the Holy Trinity. Isaac’s homilies are an invitation to enter into the wondrous depths of God’s love.

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Text of chat during the group:

00:14:37 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 115 paragraph 15 from start of homily

00:28:16 Jamie Hickman: Sorry, I had trouble with the keyboard...regarding the last paragraph that begins "Not he is chaste who...": just wanted to say that the saint we are reading would be guarding his own thoguhts, but I wonder: can we say confidently that he doesn't judge another? Instead, can we assume he regrets that another has fallen prey to evil one by not preserving his purity in thought, word, or action? My purpose: guarding our purity seems to include guarding us from judging others...something I struggle with for sure, shamefully!

00:30:53 Jamie Hickman: Thank you, Father 🤝

00:32:39 Anthony: Father, how does this differ from "quietism?"

00:39:34 Jessica Imanaka: Would Saint Isaac have memorized most of scripture? I wonder if such memorization would also facilitate driving out worldly memories.

00:43:12 Christian Corulli: How can one avoid being like the older brother of the prodigal son parable in all this? It is so easy to work and focus on ourselves and our own perfection in the spiritual life... there seems to be a fine line where we cross over into fixation on ourselves in the spiritual life.

00:48:52 Christian Corulli: Thanks 🙏

00:48:55 Alex Underwood: It is so profound that God offers us this practice of asceticism and hesychasm… these homilies are almost like an owner’s manual, that sadly not many people have. Yet it seems as if Isaac is saying that really everything he has found and has been shown about this practice can be deduced from the scriptures, if only one would look.

00:52:35 Ryan Ngeve: Father, if we memorize the scriptures as St. Isaac describes, how different are we from the Pharisees and where does the grace of God come to play in understanding and living the scripture?

00:53:46 Anthony: The new Syriac Divine Office book ("Book of Before and After") arranged by Fr Andrew Younan is pretty nice, especially while reading St Isaac the Syrian.

00:54:02 Alex Underwood: Reacted to "The new Syriac Divin..." with 👍

00:55:28 Myles Davidson: Reacted to "The new Syriac Divin..." with 👍

00:56:01 Jamie Hickman: Reacted to "The new Syriac Div..." with 🙏

00:57:16 Catherine Opie: I joined a class to study the Pentateuch and was surprised to find out that even though I had read the Bible several times I had never fully understood underlying meanings, patterns of language and numbers and foreshadowing within the scriptures in quite the same way it has opened up to me through doing this

00:58:02 Catherine Opie: Sorry pressed enter without thinking

01:00:14 Myles Davidson: Fr. Agapetos YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@FatherAgapetos

01:00:24 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "Fr. Agapetos YouTube..." with 🙏🏻

01:00:51 Lori Hatala: Reacted to "Fr. Agapetos YouTube..." with 🙏🏻

01:01:18 Jonathan Wiseman: Reacted to "Fr. Agapetos YouTube..." with 🙏🏻

01:09:57 Julie: Reacted to "Fr. Agapetos YouTube…" with 🙏

01:10:15 Alex Underwood: “To suffice the mind firmly to pinion it’s thoughts to a single thought of wonder”

01:10:31 Julie: Reacted to "The new Syriac Divin…" with 🙏

01:10:44 Myles Davidson: Reacted to "“To suffice the mind..." with 🔥

01:12:02 Jamie Hickman: Reacted to "“To suffice the m..." with 👁️

01:12:23 Jessica Imanaka: Reacted to "“To suffice the mind..." with ❤️

01:12:24 Christian Corulli: Reacted to “To suffice the mind... with "🔥"

01:12:36 Jamie Hickman: thank you as always, Father

01:12:40 Alex Underwood: Excellent insight, thank you

01:12:57 cameron: Thank you Fr

01:13:37 Julie: God bless you are in my prayers 🙏🏻

01:13:38 Ben: Thank you very much, Father! God & Mary keep you.

01:13:41 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂

01:13:47 Elizabeth Richards: Amen 🙏🏼

01:13:51 Jamie Hickman: wow!

01:13:52 Jeffrey Ott: Thank you Father!

01:13:57 Rachel: Thanks be to God!

01:14:06 Rachel: Thank you

01:14:25 David: Thank you Father!

01:14:36 paul g.: God Bless Father

01:14:37 Catherine Opie: Thank you