The Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian - Homily VI, Part II

What St Isaac exposes here is not a technique but a diagnosis. He is ruthless because the sickness is deep. The soul is meant to be good soil but soil is not neutral ground. It either receives the seed with vigilance or it becomes choked. Remembrance of God is not a poetic feeling but a sustained pressure on the heart a vigilance that does not sleep. When this remembrance is alive the soul becomes a place where God Himself shades and illumines. There is no romance here. Light appears inside darkness not because the darkness is denied but because the soul has chosen to stand watch within it.

St Isaac refuses to let us spiritualize our way around the body. The belly is not incidental. What enters the mouth reaches the heart. He speaks bluntly because self deception thrives in vagueness. Excess dulls perception. Pleasure thickens the air of the soul. Wisdom is not stolen from us by demons alone but smothered by our own indulgence. A full belly does not merely weaken resolve it fuels lust because the body has been trained to demand satisfaction. This is not moralism. It is anthropology. The knowledge of God does not coexist with a body that has been enthroned.

Here asceticism is revealed as truth telling. It strips away the lie that discipline is punishment. Labor is not opposed to grace. Labor is the ground where grace becomes intelligible. St Isaac compares it to labor pains because knowledge of God is not an idea grasped but a life brought forth. Without toil there is no birth only fantasy. Sloth does not simply delay holiness it gives birth to shame because the soul knows it has avoided the cost of truth.

This is where the inner disposition becomes decisive. Asceticism without remembrance hardens into pride. Asceticism without humility becomes violence against the self. But remembrance without discipline dissolves into sentimentality. St Isaac holds them together because life demands it. The question is not how much one fasts or how little one sleeps but whether the heart is consenting to be trained. Discipline embraced with resentment breeds bitterness. Discipline embraced with attention becomes wisdom.

In an age starved of living elders this teaching cuts even deeper. We are tempted either to abandon asceticism entirely or to turn it into a private project shaped by personality and preference. St Isaac offers neither comfort. He places responsibility back into the hands of the one who desires God. The absence of elders does not absolve us. It makes inner honesty more urgent. The body becomes the first elder. Hunger teaches restraint. Fatigue teaches humility. Failure teaches mercy. If these are ignored no amount of reading will save us.

Christ’s closeness to the mouth of the one who endures hardship is not sentimental reassurance. It is promise and warning. He draws near to the body that has consented to the Cross. Not to the body pampered under the language of balance or self care. The care Christ offers is not the removal of hardship but His presence within it. Asceticism then is not heroic excess but fidelity to reality. It is the refusal to live divided. Priceless indeed is labor wrought with wisdom because it produces not control but clarity. The soul begins to see. And once it sees it can no longer pretend.

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Text of chat during the group:

00:01:50 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 170 paragraph 5

00:06:54 susan: how is lori hatari?

00:14:30 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 170 paragraph 5

00:27:40 Eleana Urrego: the brain register emotional and physical pain in the same way.

00:29:59 Jessica McHale: A question about ascetic disciplines of the body: I discerned monastic life with an order of nuns that wouldn't let me fast.(3 times a week was all I was asking) and wouldn't allow me to exercise more than a contemplative walk (which is not exercise to me). I feel very much called to fast for spiritual reasons and called to bodily stewardship as well. It's very personal. I coudl never understand how monastic nuns could discourage this and encourage--in my opinion--indulging in food too much.

00:31:48 Una’s iPhone: Reacted to "A question about asc…" with 👍

00:50:26 Eleana Urrego: Virgen Mary said in Medjugorje every Wednesday and Friday except on solemnities days.

00:56:03 Myles Davidson: There is a resurgence of traditional fasting within the Church. I’m a member of a fellowship that does four lenten fasts a year (Great Lent, St. Michaels Lent, St. Martins Lent and the Apostles Fast) as well as fasting 2-3 x a week the rest of the year.

00:57:26 Una’s iPhone: Niall of the Nine Hostages! Una from Dublin here

00:57:40 Myles Davidson: Replying to "There is a resurgenc..."

The Fellowship of St. Nicholas if anyone wants to look it up

01:00:24 Art: Replying to "There is a resurgenc..."

Thank you.

01:00:36 Myles Davidson: Reacted to "Thank you." with 🙏

01:01:52 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "Thank you." with 🙏

01:02:15 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "The Fellowship of ..." with 👍

01:04:16 Anthony: I wonder if we think too hard about this? I'm not a religious, so why would I need to apprentice to a spiritual father, when I have a pastor? It sounds like a person who is a plumber seeking to apprentice to an electrician.

01:05:25 Ren Witter: I do want to offer a slightly different perspective on this. Sometimes, given the background we come from, or for some internal reason, we can feel the desire for a very strict, exacting spiritual father. Even to the point of feeling tempted to move on from a spiritual father who seems too kind, or gentle, or understanding. At some point, I think we need to follow our own conscience to the best of our ability, and, if we have a good and nourishing relationship, to trust in it and be at peace. It can be frightening to trust that God loves us, and that there are some things left to the conscience of the individual and to discernment, and because we are frightened or insecure we simply seek out the harshest, most difficult guidance.

01:06:31 Una’s iPhone: Reacted to "I do want to offer a…" with 👍

01:09:08 Ambrose Little: Stand in the company of the elders;
stay close to whoever is wise.
Be eager to hear every discourse;
let no insightful saying escape you.
If you see the intelligent, seek them out;
let your feet wear away their doorsteps!
Reflect on the law of the Most High,
and let his commandments be your constant study.
Then he will enlighten your mind,
and make you wise as you desire.

Sirach 6:34-37

01:09:09 Maureen Cunningham: Reacted to "I do want to offer a…" with ❤️

01:09:17 Maureen Cunningham: Reacted to "Stand in the company…" with ❤️

01:10:23 Ambrose Little: Reacted to "I do want to offer a…" with ❤️

01:11:14 Joan Chakonas: I am going back to the first podcasts in 2013 and I am about seven or eight podcasts in.  This is my spiritual guidance, listening to you read and the discussions.   I thank God.

01:11:37 Una’s iPhone: At times I think we have to look to the books of the fathers and do the best we can with our modern spiritual directors. I agree with Ren

01:13:16 Joan Chakonas: I am reading the Ladder of Divine Ascent along with the podcasts which are indispensable for my understanding.  What s treasure trove

01:13:27 Ben: Replying to "I am going back to t..."

That's what I did before I ever sat in on a live group. But...I wish I'd jumped in earlier.

01:14:11 Ambrose Little: Give me St. Isaac over our contemporary writers any day.

01:14:18 Ben: Reacted to "Give me St. Isaac ov..." with 👍

01:14:32 Myles Davidson: Reacted to "Give me St. Isaac ov..." with 👍

01:14:36 Art: Reacted to "Stand in the company..." with 👍

01:15:05 Wayne Mackenzie: In part what has happened to the Church became trapped in scholastics and became an intellectual pursuit.

01:15:32 Kevin Burke: Wonderful teaching Father, thank you!

01:17:02 Eleana Urrego: Reacted to "Stand in the company..." with 👍🏼

01:18:24 Art: Wonderful teaching Father, thank you!
Indeed!  Wonderful teaching tonight, Father.  Thank you.

01:19:50 Joan Chakonas: Reacted to "Give me St. Isaac ov…" with 👍

01:19:59 Eleana Urrego: I am catholic Roman and have two hermits priest from Spain studying the mistics, I believe the journey with Jesus for everyone is unique.

01:20:44 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "I am going back to..." with ❤️

01:21:12 Ambrose Little: Beware those rose colored glasses tho. 😉

01:21:13 Joan Chakonas: Replying to "I am going back to t…"
Can’t hear them enough

01:21:16 Kimberley A: Yes! So sad

01:22:01 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You Blessing To all beautiful chat information Blessing to REN and Her New Husband

01:22:04 Jessica McHale: Your words were so helpful tonight. YOU are creating saints! THANK YOU! Many, many prayers.

01:22:58 David Swiderski, WI: Thank you Father, may God bless you and your mother!

01:22:58 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️

01:23:05 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: Blessed Christmas!

01:23:05 Bob Čihák, AZ: Thank you and bless you, Father!

01:23:06 Janine: Thank you again father