Letters of Spiritual Direction to a Young Soul - Letter Twenty-nine Part II and Letter Thirty Part I

Tonight we concluded letter 29 and began letter 30. St. Theophan continues to emphasize for Anastasia how one must prepare oneself to act in the embrace of God‘s grace. One must count the costs, as it were, and be decisive; making an irrevocable choice to pursue the divine flame that offers nothing less than transformation or, more specifically, deification. It is only after this long period of preparation and the casting off of the passions that one is prepared to step forward. But once one has embraced the grace of God, holding nothing back, then one is propelled forward. Grace builds upon grace and one moves from glory to glory.

In letter 30, St. Theophan begins to describe for Anastasia the manifestation of this grace externally and internally. What does it look like when a person follows that desire for God to its end and holds nothing back? Theophan chooses not to write about this himself but rather makes use of Saint Marcarius the Great and his Homilies. God raises the soul up to experience something of His own nature, to taste something of the perfection of Love and the desire to draw others, good and bad, into it. It is the fulfillment of Christ’s call to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect. This is not only a command that has been given to us but a gift that we have received. And this gift is not far away and does not belong to an exclusive few but has been offered to everyone and has been received through the gift of baptism. The hidden treasure that is beyond all value lies within the human heart and we we only need to strike the shovel to immediately begin to see gold and silver of the glories and joys of heaven.

 

-----

Text of chat during the group:

00:45:15 Eric Williams: Free food suckered me into the Oratory. Little did I know my soul was going to be fed along with my stomach. ;)

00:47:25 Mark Cummings: What kind of free food are we talking?

00:48:54 Fr. John (Ivan) Chirovsky: Ezekiel 3

00:49:05 Fr. John (Ivan) Chirovsky: 16 And at the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me: 17 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. 18 If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. 19 But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you will have saved your life. 20 Again, if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. 21 Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live,

00:49:34 Fr. John (Ivan) Chirovsky: because he took warning; and you will have saved your life.”

00:57:10 Eric Ash: I think C.S. Lewis had a quote... something involving a bottle of port

00:57:56 Eric Williams: “I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.” ― C. S. Lewis

00:58:39 Mark Cummings: Love it

00:58:57 Eric Ash: I knew the other Eric would dig it up

01:13:58 Eric Williams: The commodification and marketing of Christianity brings to mind "The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion" by Peter L Berger

01:21:00 Natalie Morrill: Geez, same!

01:22:28 Natalie Morrill: Thank you, Fr. David!