That is why those who do not have Christ within them
do not have the strength to love truly. Because Christ
is the leader of love.
Dimitrios
Panagopoulos Preacher †
When God sees that your strength has been exhausted
and that you have despaired of yourself, then He intervenes. He does not want
your self-love as an accomplice.
I do not care at all. I have learned to rest in God,
and He acts. When you entrust your care to God, then your soul also rests.
Whatever You will, Lord, as You will, when You will. I trust in You. Grace
comes and the soul becomes light, it no longer wants anything other than the
will of God.
➕ Saint Joseph
the Hesychast
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.
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
