The devil wins when you look at him. Christ wins when you love Him.

 

Are your thoughts tormenting you? Saint Porphyrios explained it clearly… “Don’t dwell on the darkness. Turn on the light. Draw near to Christ, and the evil thoughts will vanish.” “The devil wins when you look at him. Christ wins when you love Him.”

A thirsty cry opened the gates of Paradise.

 The best prayers come from those who have nothing left to lose but their souls.

You see hearts that are barren, yet within them roses bloom.

Young people, boys and girls, seeking out the priest to speak with him, to find the truth their souls are searching for.

There are these young people, too.

These are miracles.

A young person stops you and says:

“I want to talk, Father, something is weighing on my conscience and I want to tell you.”

Yes, that kid!

From the café, with an earring in their ear or eyebrow.

With a tattoo of a forgotten love and headphones blasting Iron Maiden.

You’re talking to a group of young people in a café and you feel the table with the frappés turning into a little chapel of Christ’s presence, because let’s not forget: “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Matt. 18:20).

And to walk into the church and not have time to dodge the jabs, especially from people who are “close to the priest” and “the church.”

And to have a theological discussion with the rocker kid you never would have imagined in your wildest dreams.

And yet, amidst this quagmire, baptism speaks within.

A prayer, perhaps, from a grandmother, a mother kneeling before the icons, begging not for brides, grooms, jobs, or money, but for repentance and the Kingdom of Heaven.

A candidate for sainthood in search of a spiritual home.

These are miracles.

That little lamp in the heart that hasn’t gone out yet—and is rekindled by a prayer.

And then it begins to illuminate the human heart, so that the world may smell of truth.

And this “bad boy” of the world begins to see the forgotten treasure within him and goes to the confessor to have it polished so it shines again.

These are acts of repentance!

From those whom the world had already written off, but who, in God’s eyes, are among the bravest.

It makes you see God’s presence as a “gentle whisper” in thirsty souls.

And on the other hand, you see the lady in the suit, a fan-shaped pastry in hand, begging Christ at every prayer for rabbits with stone-hard hearts, just so the world can smell her selfishness.

And as soon as she sees the child with the earring, she’ll say: “That little brat, eh, what do you expect from so-and-so’s son.”

And whenever she sees you, she’ll say with the saleswoman’s smile: “Your blessing, Father.”

And after 30 years in the church, she hasn’t understood a thing.

She feels that with a few donations and some Epitaph decorations, she has a VIP spot in paradise.

Poor woman…

In the end, God is where He cannot be seen.

He hides and shines within the stillness of silence.

Something like the sun.

When the sun rises, it makes no noise; it does not speak like the waves or the wind.

It simply reveals itself through its radiance and warmth.

That almighty presence of His is enough.

That is how Christ acts.

He comes when those who are truly thirsty call upon Him.

But when the self-righteous and the Pharisees provoke Him, He withdraws,

because the space is closed to Him.

 

Let us not forget, my beloved, that Paradise was opened by a thief with a single “I remember.”

A thirsty cry opened the gates of Paradise.

 

"The illiterate grandmother and the Gospel.."

  

A  certain illiterate but pious grandmother went to Church one day and heard the preacher say:

He who does not read the Holy Bible will not be saved!

As soon as the grandmother heard this word, she turned pale, became disappointed and, returning home, said to her daughter:

My child, I will go to hell, because I do not read the Holy Bible!

Her daughter tried to reassure her, but in vain.

One day, the grandmother decided to go to an enlightened elder, to help her.

As soon as the grandmother saw him, she said to him:

My father, I will not be saved, because I do not read the Holy Bible, because I am illiterate!

But the elder reassured her and said to her:

And how were so many illiterate people saved, grandmother? In fact, we also have Saints who were completely illiterate! How were they saved? Letters do not save, but neither does illiteracy bring damnation.

So, grandmother, you will do this: You will take the Gospel, open it to the first page, put your palm on the Gospel and then go to the iconostasis and say the following prayer: ''My Christ, what you write in the Gospel, put into my heart!''.

The next day you will put your palm on the second page and so on.

The grandmother applied the elder's words to the letter for several months. One day at home, her grandchildren were playing and began to speak badly and criticize.

The grandmother heard this and observed them, telling them:

My children, do not judge so that you will not be judged!

Her daughter is a bone!

Mother, what you said, where did you hear it and say it? This is what the Gospel says, you are illiterate, who told you?

My child, I did not hear it from somewhere, but it came from my heart!

From that moment on, the grandmother began to reproduce words of the Gospel, without understanding it! Because the grandmother obeyed the elder with faith and simplicity, Christ began to implant the words of the Gospel in her heart.

What will save us is faith in Christ and not our education.

Besides, Christ chose illiterate people as His Disciples, to show that He can make you all-wise, even if you are illiterate, as long as one has faith and humility..

Elder Ephraim of the Skete of Saint Andrew

Let us therefore, my brothers, take care to guard our conscience, as long as we are still in this world

 Even if the world today has become worse than Sodom and Gomorrah, be careful to make peace with your enemy while you are still in this life.

 “Conscience is called an adversary because it always opposes our evil will and checks us for what we should do and do not do and accuses us for what we do and should not do.” That is why it is said that the best pillow is a quiet conscience.

Go to sleep. When you have remorse of conscience, you cannot sleep, no matter how many sedatives you take. You will have to settle your adversary, your adversary. You must forgive! Conscience says, you must forgive and you say, no, I will keep my character, I do not want to forgive, I do not want to be humiliated, I do everything, let him do it too… and you cannot sleep. Conscience does not let you, the adversary, the rival.

“Have good relations with your rival, while you are still walking together on the road”. In this life. Do not leave it after death. After death you cannot sort out your conscience. After death your conscience will be your condemnation. “The road is, as St. Basil says, this world”. While you are on the road, while you are in this world, sort things out with your conscience, find them, sort out your conscience. And we know what sorting out is, repentance and confession, the correction of evil. Behold, what great things confession offers, which no psychiatrist, psychologist, medicine, or anything can give you! It calms your conscience, because the Holy Spirit comes and tells you, my child, it is as if you had not done it. It is finished... I erase it, I erase it... and the person calms down.

“Let us therefore, my brothers, take care to guard our conscience, as long as we are still in this world, without provoking it to control us for anything, without trampling on it in anything at all, not even in the slightest.” Do not let your conscience control you. Since you know, what you will do now, your conscience will control you later.

The Ascetic Writings of Abba Dorotheos.

 

Intense thoughts and carnal temptations...

By Saint Isaac the Syrian

Know that intense thoughts and carnal temptations will fight you, to defile your body and your soul.

To overcome this passion, you must systematically avoid worldly associations. Do not forget that our nature has within it the urge for procreation, which is inflamed by our careless behavior with women.

Another kind of damage is caused to the soul by temptations that come from things that are far away from us, and another, much more serious harm is caused to our soul by thoughts that come to us when the temptation is near us. When the fire is far away, it does not harm us much, but when it is near, then the damage is certain.

Just as oil nourishes the light of a lamp, so carnal desires nourish passions. In order to keep our bodies clean from carnal pollution, we must be very careful about stimuli. For it is not the propensity for procreation that God has placed in man that is harmful, but the deviation. However, man must tame this propensity and direct it to good. For if he leaves himself without a bridle, then he will become worse than wild animals. God made everything “very good”, but man strayed from the right path and left his body free to be satisfied as it wants, and not as the will of God commands.

The natural movements of the body should not lead us astray or hinder us from sobriety. Drink, much food, and careless intercourse with women kindle the flame of evil desires, and the body becomes wild, losing its natural meekness and simplicity.

Many times we think that through exercise and prayer we have reached high standards of virtue. It is then that God permits carnal temptations in order to humble us. Force is needed, because the flesh does not submit easily. The struggle is difficult, but with the Lord's help we will conquer. Our labor and struggle, hard and difficult, will be rewarded by God. Sorrows and sorrows kill the passions of the flesh.

Our bodies, like our souls, are not sinful, but evil desires and carnal defilements defile them. Exercise, suffering of the body, and prayer help in spiritual elevation.

When we despise the sorrows and griefs that God allows for our perfection, it is as if we despise the commandments of God. We must not forget that virtue blooms in us like a flower only through sorrows and physical labor. The more we love rest, the more we give way to passions. For when the body is tormented by labors and sorrows, evil thoughts subside. When a person remembers his sins and repents of them, then God provides for him and increases his virtue. The more someone forces himself, the more God blesses him, granting him the joy of virtue. Every joy that does not come from virtue feeds the passions of the flesh.

“Often our body, fearing temptations, becomes a friend of sin.”

These words were spoken by one of the Holy Fathers of our Church. Therefore, he who desires the Lord to dwell within him must bridle his body, work the commandments of God, and guard his soul from the works of the flesh. The Holy Spirit does not dwell in the body that rests in carnal desires. When the body is weakened by fasting and prayer, then the soul is strengthened. And the body is accustomed to begging the soul for rest, because rest is its food. When the body is not nourished by laziness and much rest, then it gives way and is defeated.

Therefore it comes and begs: “Let me rest a little and come to my senses.”

And this it does until it regains its strength. Then it attacks the soul with greater ferocity. Therefore, we will not consider the insidious entreaties of the body. We will conduct ourselves as God wants. And in the world one can acquire virtue, provided one struggles against the sinful demands of the body.

When the body is exhausted by temptations and asks to be freed, you should say to it: “You desire impurity and a shameful life.” But if it objects to you that it is a great sin to kill one’s body, you should refute it with the argument that I am not killing you (the body), but the evil and wicked desires that nest within you.

You should say to the body: “I kill the unclean life that the Lord detests, and not you who are a gift from God.”

It is better to die than to be separated from our God, who gives us so many gifts, and above all purity of soul and sobriety. What is one to do with life when he is far from God? A thousand times to endure the sufferings of the body, than to give in to his unlawful and sinful desires.

source / churchofagianapa.blogspot.gr