Letters of Spiritual Direction to a Young Soul - Letter Fifty-two Part II and Letter Fifty-three

We began this evening with letter 52. St. Theophan continues to discuss with Anastasia the importance of warming the heart.  Our passions have so dampened the wood that it can no longer be enkindled. We must go out in search of dry wood. We must protect that part of ourselves that have perhaps not been permeated by the passions.  More importantly we must draw close to God that it might inflame our hearts and free our spirit.

All of this is a preparation for letter 53. St. Theophan begins to discuss with Anastasia the passions and how they are an obstacle to the spirit that burns with the love for God. They must be expelled. The passions are not a part of us as human beings. They arise out of our fallen state and our sin and they permeate every aspect of who we are as human beings. The are alien to us and parasitic. These passions, then, acting in collusion with the demons take control of the person even if he thinks that he is in control of himself. It is the spirit that must first escape their grip. And this only comes when the grace of God pulls it free. The spirit, then, filled with the fear of God and the action of grace develops a resoluteness. However, the emergence of this resoluteness in the pursuit of God must be accompanied by the willingness to labor for many years. We are to engage in a spiritual warfare against the passions. Theophan describes thrashing them; driving them out of the temple of our hearts as Christ drove out the money-changers from the temple in Jerusalem. The remembrance of God is the foothold for life in the spirit. It is for this reason the Theophan has spent so much time speaking with Anastasia about it. She has only come to acknowledge and recognize the passions within her. She has of yet, and perhaps we have as yet, not entered fully into the spiritual battle. She must not, he tells her, be bashful but prepare herself to enter fully and vigorously into the battle and to expose her passions and sins to the light.

 

Text of chat during the group:

00:19:04 Joseph Muir: What’s the name of the biography on St Philip Neri?

00:42:33 Lilly Crystal: Hi Father, Sorry for being late! ❤️🙏

00:45:34 Lilly Crystal: I love your rants, Father😂

00:48:37 Eric Williams: So when are you founding a seminary, Father? ;)

00:53:11 Eric Williams: It’s a shame so many in the West rejected and opposed hesychasm (or at least what they believed it to be).

00:54:36 Wayne Mackenzie: And the prayer life forgotten.

00:57:09 Eric Williams: Vitamin G[od] ;)

00:58:03 renwitter: Robert Bellarmine was the Theology teacher of the first Oratorians :-D Can you imagine?

01:02:07 Sharon: Beautifully said…Amen!

01:06:58 Mark Cummings: Ren- If you have not read the Art of Dying Well then I recommend that you do. I recently read it and it really resonates with me.

01:07:17 renwitter: Thrashing demons away from myself and others is what I imagine when I am praying Jesus Prayers with my prayer rope - it makes a good whip ;-)

01:12:44 renwitter: My real name is Anastasia :-D

01:20:28 Lilly Crystal: Always a joy to listen❤️