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

Saint Isaac the Syrian begins his teaching with a gentle reminder that liberation from material things, that is, our attachment to the things of this world and placing them above God, is a slow process that involves great toil. Yet, this is the common order of things. In our journey, we often have to break loose of the mooring of those things that prevent us from loving. And so Isaac teaches us that righteous activity involves comprehending what God has revealed to us and then embodying it through action - praxis. Even as we make gains our memory of past sins and failures often brings grief to the soul. We shouldn’t be discouraged by this, St. Isaac tells us, but we must simply allow these recollections to lead us to greater repentance and gratitude for God‘s mercy.

Yet all of this is but a prelude to Isaac asking us an important question: Do you desire to commune with God by perceiving the love and the mercy that He reveals not just with the mind or the senses but through faith and experience?  Do you desire God? Do you desire Love? If our answer to this question is “yes” then Isaac tells us we must pursue mercy: “For when something that is like unto God is found in you, then that holy beauty is depicted by Him.“ We begin to see and comprehend the mercy and love of God by loving as he loves; by going beyond the limitations and the confines of our own understanding. 

Such spiritual unity once unsealed incessantly blazes in the heart with ardent longing. The soul‘s divine vision, Isaac tells us, unites one to God and the heart becomes awestruck; filled with wonder at what no eye has seen or mind could imagine outside of the grace of God. The path to divine love first begins by showing compassion in some proportion to the Father’s perfection. As Christ tells us, “Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect, be merciful as your Heavenly Father is merciful“

The dignity and destiny that is ours, the life and love into which God draws us should be what we pursue the most in life. To desire God, to give free reign to an urgent longing for Him brings about our transformation. Desire is our path to the Kingdom within.

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Text of chat during the group:

00:15:08 Callie Eisenbrandt: I’ll take your books Father!! 😂

00:16:21 Bob Čihák, AZ: P 117 paragraph 26 starting "Liberation from...."

00:20:11 Eleana: I want Icons😁

00:30:39 Sr. Charista Maria: Amen Father. So very true. We so often fall so short of such communion with the indwelling presence of the Holy Trinity. Most don't realize the profound grace of our Baptism.

00:30:43 Anthony: This is interesting.....in Italian, a translation of "lust" is "desire."  Lust (the sin) must be misplaced desire.

00:31:53 Paisios: There's a phenomenal article by Cormac Jones about converting desire being the most important thing in the Christian spiritual life

00:31:55 Paisios: https://cormacjones.substack.com/p/converting-desire

00:33:38 Sr Mary Clare: Reacted to "https://cormacjones...." with 👍

00:34:19 Anthony: Reacted to There's a phenomenal... with "👍"

00:34:25 Anthony: Reacted to https://cormacjones.... with "👍"

00:36:16 Jamie Hickman: Replying to "This is interestin..."

concupiscence...think concupiscible appetite. we tend to think of it only in the negative (evil, sinful), but as you say: it is not in itself bad

00:41:56 Anthony: Too much asceticism leads to resentment

00:45:00 Nypaver Clan: Father, How do we balance Mercy with the Judgement of God?  Is it possible to rely too much on God’s Mercy?

00:50:05 Paisios: I once read, "God's judgement is mercy"

00:52:37 Maureen Cunningham: W hat about abusive act

00:55:43 Sr Mary Clare: There are many out there who constantly say, "Don't judge!. when a person may just be speaking about sins that hurt the heart of Jesus Christ. It is a constant cry of those who seemingly have problems with church teachings and the ten commandments.

00:59:45 Jamie Hickman: I might have missed it: to whom is Isaac intending homily? Was this preached in a church during Divine Liturgy? Looking for context and audience.

01:02:08 Anthony: Leaving their boats and family was leaving freedom and security of having your place where you belong.

01:02:20 Jamie Hickman: thank you, Father

01:02:37 Anthony: Also they left economic power

01:02:52 Sr. Charista Maria: There's a video called The Third Way, which is so beautifully done, that may reflect what you are saying here Father regarding love. Letting Love inspire in all things. The first way is Judging, the second is compromising, the third is Christ's way it seems.

01:04:42 Sr. Charista Maria: It is testimonies of some who were in the homosexual lifestyle, but then were drawn by love to the truth.

01:05:49 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: The intensity of man's thirst for God determines his spiritual progress. Longing for God stands above all ascesis. Man's desire constitutes the small human part, which man offers to God, and God then adds to it the great part of His grace. It is essential to constantly rekindle our desire, and this should be the main concern of our life. God gave the same commandments to all, so if God's gifts are more abundant in some, this means that their thirst for God is greater and they renew their desire day after day. Spiritual thirst brings the whole heart of man to the source Christ, as He Himself said, 'Where your heart is there shall your treasure be also." Respecting man's freedom, however, God responds to man according to his longing, as Saint Silouan writes: ‘The Lord has love for all men but His love is greater for the one who seeks Him.' If we expect the Lord's visitation with all our heart, then, of a surety, we will attract the living waters of His grace.

01:06:28 Lee Graham: Life with Christ must be “experiential”,

01:08:22 Sr. Charista Maria: There's a video called The Third Way, which is so beautifully done, that may reflect what you are saying here Father regarding love. Letting Love inspire in all things. The first way is Judging, the second is compromising, the third is Christ's way it seems. It is testimonies of some who were in the homosexual lifestyle, but then were drawn by love to the truth.

01:12:05 Kathleen: HAHA

01:12:45 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You Father

01:12:53 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂

01:13:10 Maureen Cunningham: Yes

01:13:20 Lee Graham: Yes!

01:13:25 David: Thank you father!

01:13:26 Sr Mary Clare: Thank you