Navigating Desires: Insights from Ascetic Wisdom

After many weeks of reading the hypotheses on fornication and the pursuit of purity of heart, what finally comes into focus is the fruit of the fathers’ experience in the struggle. What they discovered is that discipline, fasting, vigils, etc. are absolutely necessary. Yet these practices are not ends in themselves. They are to be a reflection of our desire for God and our seeking in love our soul’s Beloved. 

Desire is what gives us the capacity to love and give ourselves in love. In it we sense a lack that only God can satisfy. Ascetic practice is not meant to be an act of contempt for our human nature, but rather an acknowledgment of the strength and the power of our natural desires. What is good can become disordered whenever there is an imbalance or lack of measure. Our natural desire, Eros, can only be transformed by Divine Eros. Therefore, it is only by grace that the passions can be overcome.  Our hearts must be filled with an urgent longing for God. 

Outside of the acknowledgment of the necessity of Grace, we become the most pitiable of all creatures. So long as we hold onto the illusion of overcoming the passions by raw grit, we will find ourselves returning to our sin or sinking into a much darker place of anger and pride. St. John Cassian tells us we must “base our courage not on our own power or on our asceticism, but in the aid of God, our Master”. When this takes place, even the deepest recesses of the unconscious can be healed and transformed. Likewise, the  countenance of the pure of heart begins to change; we begin to see the inner beauty that rest in the heart of one who loves and desires God wholly.

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Text of chat during the group:

00:04:03 Lori Hatala: reboot

00:12:17 Una: Problem with sound?

00:12:25 Una: Yes

00:13:01 Una: It's good now

00:13:08 Una: . Can hear you humming

00:16:33 Lilly: Do you know Fr Teodosy?

00:16:34 ANDREW ADAMS: My copy came today!

00:21:09 Una: What page? I'm lost

00:21:23 ANDREW ADAMS: 190

00:21:50 Una: Thanks

00:32:34 Lilly: Asking this question respectfully, if a Priest can’t cure his passion, would it be appropriate to take medicine to help ?

00:33:37 Lilly: Generally speaking, no specific medicatiob

00:33:42 Lilly: n*

00:37:28 Suzanne Romano: My experience has been that the grace of continence is given to those who use the means God gives, and is diligent in avoiding the occasions of sin.

00:48:38 Anthony: Life is like art. Each of us is a unique material: canvas, copper foil, paper, wood. Part of Christian life is learning what material we are and what techniques best bring out the beatific vision in the material we are.  The same image can be brought out uniquely in each different art.

00:52:24 Suzanne Romano: Father, may I ask a question that relates to the previous Hypotheses on gluttony? 

00:52:37 Forrest Cavalier: Elias in the earlier story did not mutilate, emasculate, or injure himself. By avoiding injury, keeping his masculinity intact, and building on nature, he returned to serve the convent in a very masculine and fatherly way for a long time. It would have been tragic if he deformed the gifts God had given him.

00:52:52 Myles Davidson: Is using caffeine during a night vigil cheating?

00:54:22 Una: It can mess with your sleep when you do get to bed

00:54:59 Una: I used to write until 3 a.m. during my last novel.

00:56:09 Suzanne Romano: Father, may I ask a question that relates to the previous Hypotheses on gluttony? 

00:56:59 Suzanne Romano: Thank you. I can distill three principles from the readings: Eat once per day; stop eating before you are completely full; and never eat for the sheer sake of pleasure or comfort. If one takes up these three principles as a regular discipline, are there ever times when it is permissible to take something just for pleasure or comfort - say on Sundays or on Holidays - say, a dessert or a hot cocoa, etc?

00:59:25 Anthony: Haha

00:59:34 Carol Roper: Reacted to "Haha" with 👍

01:01:57 Adam Paige: Reacted to "Haha" with 🍝

01:02:12 Suzanne Romano: Reacted to Haha with "🍝"

01:06:02 Rebecca Thérèse: Psychologists think that impulse control is a good thing in areas where it suits them!

01:06:03 Maureen Cunningham: Maybe  it just a season when a person get rid of fleshly desires

01:06:37 Maureen Cunningham: Not forever  maybe  a Season

01:10:22 Una: I think in Cassian's Conferences, he talks about how you spend your day will be reflected in your nighttime dreams. For example, if you aren't occupied with God during the day, you will have these troubling dreams

01:10:32 Bob Cihak, AZ: I'm 84 and finally started "settling down" several years ago.

01:10:36 Myles Davidson: Conference 12

01:10:53 Adam Paige: Reacted to "I'm 84 and finally s..." with 😇

01:11:00 Una: Thanks, Myles!

01:11:09 Myles Davidson: Interestingly the 19th C. translation refused to translate this conference

01:11:26 Myles Davidson: Too spicy for them

01:11:34 Wayne: Replying to "I think in Cassian's..."

Good point, thanks for this observation.

01:14:20 Una: Another mystical operation!

01:14:33 Una: How can we understand these?

01:21:40 Wayne: YOU might find the movies on You Tube

01:21:56 Myles Davidson: Replying to "YOU might find the m..."

Yes its there

01:22:17 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you. Happy New Year everyone.🙂

01:22:23 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You Father  Lords Blessing In the  New Year

01:22:26 MOME hermits: Thank you Fr. David!

01:23:09 ANDREW ADAMS: Thank you, Father!

01:23:12 Suzanne Romano: Great meeting! Thanks!