Philokalia Ministries

“Contrition is his very name!” This is how the authors describe a monk who not only is contrite of heart, but who also lives always in this state. What becomes clear in the writings and experience of the desert fathers is that contrition is the source of consolation. The capacity to see one’s sin, though painful, is also the path to healing. It draws us to God and creates a thirst in our heart that only he can satisfy. We might wonder how we, living in the world, can maintain the same state. It is not only by humbly acknowledging our sins before God or remembering our mortality. This certainly contributes to fostering such blessed mourning. Yet what truly shapes the heart is the realization that our soul, which is of greater worth to us than the whole world, has been deadened by sins and lies dying before us. One contemporary elder said that God loves an individual soul more than the entire cosmos!  It is this vision of the beauty of the human soul and the depth of God‘s love that moves the heart the most to the sorrow that draws us back to the Beloved; that gives rise to the tears that become a source of true consolation. May God fill our hearts with such contrition and open our eyes to the depth of his love. --- Text of chat during the group:  00:13:21 Una: What page are we on in the Nun Christina translation? 00:14:09 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Not sure. I don’t have that translation 00:14:25 Janine: Page 182 nun christina 00:15:44 Bob Čihák, AZ: P 246, first full paragraph 00:18:11 Una: Thank you for the page number 00:21:38 wayne: Is there a difference between contrition and repentance? 00:29:08 Suzanne Romano: I'm hearing a beautiful dichotomy. The sense of being incapable of perfectly conforming to the will of God; and yet a deep consolation. 00:58:58 Rebecca Thérèse: song of Bernadette 00:59:06 Nypaver Clan: Song of Bernadette 01:04:29 Janine: St Gregory of Narak 01:05:08 Janine: From the depths of the heart 01:13:26 Sean Coe: Maintain a spirit of peace and you will save a thousand souls - St Seraphim of Sarov 01:18:19 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️ 01:18:27 Suzanne Romano: Pax! 01:18:32 Troy Amaro: Thank You Father. 01:18:37 Sean Coe: Thank you, Fr Charbel

Orthodoxy and Orthopraxis (right belief and right practice) are intimately tied together. All of the fathers and, in particular, Saint Isaac the Syrian want us to understand that our perception of revelation, who God is to us and what we have become in his Son through the Paschal mystery, and how we live our life are inseparable. God has revealed himself to us in a unique and distinctive fashion, and has made known to us our dignity and destiny in Christ. Therefore, having a clear understanding of our human nature, the sickness of sin and the passions that follow and the healing that takes place through Grace is imperative. Isaac pushes us to understand that virtue is the natural health of the soul and the passions are an illness of the soul that follow and invade our nature and despoil its proper health. One can see how essential this is when looking at our life in this world and the struggles of the spiritual life. We can attribute sin and the hold that passions have upon us simply to human nature. However, when we do this, we lose sight of the fact that we have been created in the image and likeness of God and that sin is antecedent to that reality. We have been created for love and to manifest this love through virtue. A faulty or incomplete understanding of human anthropology and psychology, has often been the pretext that the Evil One uses to distort our vision to the point that we willingly embrace that which enslaves us.  To understand that we have been created good, conversely, establishes a firm desire within the human heart for that which is of God. It also establishes confidence and hope in the grace of God who tells us precisely that he has come not to judge the world but to save it!  One of the beautiful things that the desert fathers would have us understand is that Christ is the divine physician who has come to heal us. He is the Good Samaritan from the gospel who takes our burden upon himself in order that we might be nursed to the fullness of health.  Again, if Isaac makes us work to understand this, we must see it as a labor of love. To grasp these truths allows us to give free expression to our desire for God and to run towards Him with the freedom of those aided by His Grace. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:01:52 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 128 paragraph 6 00:10:40 Anthony: I just read that there is a "Holy Transfiguration East" in Burnsville, NC. 00:11:43 Anthony: Gotcha thanks 00:26:20 Joshua Sander: I've missed the last couple of weeks, and so you may have already explained this, but when Isaac uses the term "passions," what exactly does he mean? I've heard the term used roughly in the sense of "emotions" (i.e. anger, sadness, etc.), but does Isaac mean it more in the sense of "temptations"? I think you may have just explained this now, but in that case, could you briefly restate this? 00:30:04 Suzanne Romano: Does Isaac distinguish between original nature and fallen nature? 00:33:15 David: I found this helpful from Fr. Maximos- So, we have five stages in the evolution of a logismos,” he concluded, spreading out the five fingers of his right hand. “Assault, interaction, consent, captivity/defeat, and passion/obsession. These are more or less all the stages. While they use the same word in translation it helped me to realize the different stages in context. 00:37:23 Myles Davidson: Reacted to "I found this helpful..." with 👍 00:37:39 Julie: Reacted to "I found this helpful…" with 👍 00:45:53 wayne: late to evening..what page? 00:46:03 Ben: Replying to "late to evening..wha..." 130 00:46:04 Catherine Opie: 130 00:46:08 Catherine Opie: Top 00:46:20 wayne: thnx 00:58:59 Anthony: I'm reading Fr John Custer's book on the Epistles.  He is a priest in Eparchy of Passaic. His description of St Paul in Romans (what I would do, I do not...) is like Isaac here about natural virtue vs foreign passions. 00:59:09 Eleana: I believe Mary was made to give to the divine  flesh, and to the flesh to become divine; to break the passion's hold since men's desire is not enough. Nicodemus asked how we born again? Our Lady! 01:01:02 Ren Witter: Going to throw this out there for anyone who is as confused as I am 🤣. Is Isaac saying that, though the Passions are not natural, they are given to us by God? Even though they are a sickness? 01:03:43 Ren Witter: What would be an example of one of the passions of the soul, given to us for our benefit, by God? 01:09:07 Catherine Opie: Sorry cant raise hand. So Fr., it is like this? For example: We have hunger to tell us we need to eat. This is a natural bodily desire that is beneficial. However, the soul needs to be in control of this and able to acknowledge this desire to eat and allay it to the appropriate time to do this, also to have faith and trust in that food will be provided so there is no need to panic about it, i.e. fear of starvation leading us to grab the food, eat more food than is necessary, steal the food or even attack someone else to desperately obtain food to quiet the fear of hunger? Otherwise we are driven by base bodily functions and raw passions? Therefore we learn to practice the virtue of temperance. 01:15:14 Jeffrey Ott: My family and I are getting chrismated this Sunday at our Ukranian church here in Oregon. Please pray for us! 01:15:16 Catherine Opie: Amen. Deo gratiats 01:15:24 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️ 01:15:25 David: Thank you Father may God bless you! 01:15:28 Jeffrey Ott: Thank you Father! 01:15:29 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "Thank you Father!" with ❤️

The loss of the spirit of contrition can take place whenever our hearts become hardened; when we grow sluggish in the spiritual life or our attention shifts off of our own sin and need for God‘s mercy and is redirected towards the things of the world or to the sins of others. The desert fathers pull back the veil on the human heart and reveal the motivation for our actions and thoughts. We often become very skilled at satisfying our morbid delight for seeing others weaknesses and their natural flaws and defects. Rather than keeping our focus upon contrition for our own sins and seeking purity of heart, we become preoccupied with our neighbor; judging them, becoming frustrated and irritated with them, pushing our opinions upon them, becoming upset when we do not receive what we believe we deserve or when we feel that we have been misjudged and slandered. Rather than having an eye for the needs of the other and instead of being tender and gentle in our attitude, we often see others as an obstacle to our happiness or our freedom. When we could be a source of peace and healing we become rough to the point that our interactions with others is akin to rubbing up against sandpaper. Those closest to us often elude us. Sometimes we do not know what to give and even what we do give may not be helpful or wanted. But we can still love them - we can love them completely. A human being is not someone we are called to fix, correct or judge, but rather one we are called to embrace with the same love and to offer the same consolation as we have received from Christ. --- 00:14:14 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 245 first paragraph on this page 00:14:24 Janine: Suzanne..that sounds awful…I will pray for you! 00:14:41 Suzanne Romano: Thank you Janine!!!! 00:37:10 Catherine Opie: This is like being a parent as well 00:56:21 Lindsey Funair: thank you, that helps a lot 00:56:35 Bob Čihák, AZ: An invitation to be nosey? When an acquaintance once said something about a third person like "Yes, I know why he left that job but I'm not going to say why" it sounded like an invitation to get nosey, so I simply didn't respond at all, and went on my way. 00:57:44 Joseph: St. Maximos the Confessor writes, “Cut off the passions, and you will soon silence the senses. Restrain the senses, and you will easily calm the passions.” The goal of ascetic struggle, through repentance and bodily hardship, is not to reject the senses, but to purify them. The senses are not the cause of sin; rather, sin arises from the passionate response to the representations that the senses convey. The desert (silence) is a means of purification, to restore our noetic vision to health, so we can perceive sense data, sight, sound, touch, etc., without passion. This is the what we aim for anyway! 00:58:35 Joseph: From Second Century on Love, 2.15 01:03:34 Myles Davidson: The Litany of Humility springs to mind From the desire of being approved, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the fear of being humiliated, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the fear of being despised, Deliver me, O Jesus. et. al 01:06:35 Catherine Opie: St Teresa of Avila would say that anyone who slandered her was probably right. That really struck me when I read it. Because it is really the antithesis of what I was brought up to believe. 01:06:37 Myles Davidson: Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val y Zulueta 01:06:41 Lorraine Green: Marie del  val 01:14:08 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️ 01:14:26 Catherine Opie: Thank you Fr. God bless. 01:14:31 Julie: God bless 01:14:34 Lindsey Funair: thank you! 01:14:37 Suzanne Romano: Pax! 01:14:37 Lorraine Green: God bless

Upon reading the beginning of this homily, one clearly gets the sense that Saint Isaac the Syrian wants our understanding of the spiritual life, who we are as human beings, and a relationship with God (who has created us in His image and likeness), to be set on a foundation that is unshakable. One must love Isaac for the effort! He is giving us eyes to see.  He began by presenting us with an image of a soul who truly abides in her nature, and so comes to penetrate into and understand the wisdom of God. Knowing nothing of the impediment of the passions, the soul is lifted up toward God and is astonished and struck with wonder. This is Isaac’s starting point for a reason. He wants us to regain what over the course of time has been lost; that is, our perception the beauty and wonder of how God has created us and our natural capacity for love and virtue. Furthermore, it is not just about perception but the experience of being God bearers and temples of the Holy Spirit. It is about our deification.  What has distorted or understanding is the emergence of the passions and how we have come to view them. Isaac tells us categorically that the soul by nature is passionless. We are created in God‘s image and likeness and it is only the emergence of sin that has darken that which was created to be filled with light. Thus, when a soul is moved in a passionate way, she is outside her nature. The passions have the ability to move the soul after the fall. There’s a radical communion between body and soul and with sin our experience of the world through the senses and in our desires and appetites become distorted. The break of communion with God leads to an internal break within us as human beings; a fragmentation on the deepest level of our existence. What is the nature of a soul created for communion when it pursues autonomy from the one who created her in love? Is it not only the loss of unity with God but within ourselves and our capacity to experience and reflect our true dignity?  Saint Isaac makes us work in these paragraphs and grapple to understand what he’s saying. Yet, it is a labor of love; for it is upon the foundation of this understanding of our nature that we will once again be able to see the wonder and beauty of how God has created us and experience the healing necessary to reflect this wondrous reality to the world. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:17:20 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 127, paragraph 1 00:31:07 Lindsey Funair: When I hear the memories of the soul grow old, it reminds me that the soul knows not ego or attachment, it remembers only what is worthy of taking to Paradise, only that that is in Love. That is all there is once the world and self-love and other things that are not Love, is filtered from our memory. 00:31:13 Anthony: It's important to say that Isaac was born into a time and geography of turmoil and he wasn't living in comfort locked away from the outside. 00:31:43 Maureen Cunningham: Washington Carfer 00:31:52 Maureen Cunningham: Carver 00:33:02 Troyce Garrett Quimpo: This sections reminds me of St John of the Cross's Purgative Way. 00:36:11 Anthony: George Washington Carver 00:36:20 Vanessa: famous Black inventer 00:40:08 Maureen Cunningham: Yes George Washington Carver thank you , a little book I read . A Man who talked to flowers. 00:40:34 Anthony: I think when Isaac refers to philosophers he might have in mind the humors that dominate a man or the astrologers who Forcast about a person. 00:42:08 Lindsey Funair: it helps me to think of passions in this sense of Maslow's entire hierarchy, those things which are necessary to life and living and connecting with others and doing good, but when focused on directly become a distraction from the humility and obedience which place us "in" our soul and in relative connection to God 00:42:08 Manuel: How this idea that the soul is passionless by nature fit in with the opening of the Philokalia “There is among the passions an anger of the intellect, and this anger is in accordance with nature. Without anger a man cannot attain purity”? 00:44:25 Vanessa: When I went to university, I always thought the academics disciplines were centered around "explaining the world without God." 00:44:51 Anthony: I wrote it 00:44:56 Kathy Locher: What in our nature would have made us susceptible to temptation. Especially, given that we were living in Eden in God’s company? 00:45:31 Ryan N: Father what would your response be to those who emphasize the importance of the body because it is equally made in the image and likeness of God ( not just the soul) 00:46:35 Myles Davidson: Reacted to "What in our nature w..." with 👍 00:48:25 Lindsey Funair: It is a context for personhood 00:59:59 Lindsey Funair: the body feels first the pain then looks for purpose, where the soul honors the purpose by bearing the pain. vain suffering, suffering without purpose, is not of the soul and is rejected by it rightfully. 01:01:26 David: I notice more and more people respond - that is the way I am . Usually with a passion a mentor once responded but if you could see who you could become. It almost seems like many use that is the way I am as an excuse to embrace sin. 01:02:11 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "I notice more and mo..." with 👍🏻 01:04:30 Vanessa: Reacted to "I notice more and mo..." with 👍 01:04:58 Alex Underwood: It is my understanding that there’s no word for “consciousness” in the Old Testament.. is it right to say that The Christ, as this representation of the revealed consciousness of God, brings us into an understanding of the un-consciousness of The Father.. this “invisibility” that Isaac speaks of? 01:06:42 Una: What's the book again? 01:06:50 Myles Davidson: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B09M4CQL1H?ref_=mr_referred_us_au_nz 01:06:53 Lindsey Funair: What then is the meaning of writing a name on the heart? 01:07:11 Una: Thank you 01:07:15 Myles Davidson: Replying to "What's the book agai..." Essential reading! 01:07:28 Una: Dr. Raymond Richmond in San Francisco gets close to this idea 01:07:41 Una: Chastity in San Francisco? is his site 01:08:04 David: A Beginner's Introduction to the Philokalia, 2016: Anthony M. Coniaris: 9781880971796: Amazon.com: Books 01:08:17 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "https://www.amazon.c..." with 🙏🏻 01:08:30 David: Only available through kindle 01:10:33 Myles Davidson: Reacted to "https://zoboko.com/b..." with 👍 01:13:47 Max Horcher: Reacted to "https://zoboko.com..." with 👍 01:14:53 Catherine Opie: Don't download that PDF version it seems to be a malicious site 01:14:58 Catherine Opie: Sorry 01:16:05 David: I found a good definition of Nous (eye of the soul) or heart.In this belief, soul is created in the image of God. Since God is Trinitarian, Mankind is Nous, Word and Spirit. The same is held true of the soul (or heart): it has nous, word and spirit. To understand this better first an understanding of St. Gregory Palamas's teaching that man is a representation of the trinitarian mystery should be addressed. 01:17:41 Wayne: Reacted to "I found a good defin..." with 👍 01:19:44 Max Horcher: Replying to "Don't download tha..." I did, and it seems fine to me, but YMMV. I also have AdblockPlus and UBlockOrigin running; might be problematic without adblockers. The EPUB to PDF converter site isn't English, but it worked as advertised. 01:20:38 Alex Underwood: Excellent insight, thank you father 01:21:13 Catherine Opie: I'm really finding this very transformational thank you Fr. 01:21:28 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: The Deification of Man - a book by a Romanian Orthodox writer of the last century 01:22:28 Maureen Cunningham: Thank you Blessing to all  and many prayer for Father 01:22:28 Andrew Adams: Thanks be to God! Thank you, Father! 01:22:29 David: Thank you very much Father. May God bless you and your mother 01:22:32 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂 01:22:34 Art: Thank you!! 01:22:45 Catherine Opie: Thanks be to God. No way! 01:22:45 Jeffrey Ott: Thank you! A presto! 01:22:45 Alex Underwood: lol 01:22:59 Lee Graham: Thank you, have a great week 01:23:01 Lindsey Funair: thank you, Father

At the end of many of these groups, my only thought is that the beauty of the writings of the fathers is exquisite. Often when reading them one is both pierced to the heart, but also raised up and consoled. This is surprisingly so in this hypothesis on contrition. None of the fathers’ writings appear to be an abstraction, but rather their words reverberate with the pain and the love of those who experienced the struggle with sin.  One comes to know not only the weight and burden of sin, but a kind of otherworldly darkness to which it drags the soul. A soul begins to understand how the demons act as accusers; seeking to cast it down into the depths of despair after having coaxed it into sin. There are two kinds of contrition with which we must become familiar. The first is rooted in fear; the acknowledgment of the coming judgment and the consequences of turning away from God. The soul becomes painfully aware of what it is to turn away from He who is light and life. The second kind of contrition, however, arises out of desire for the kingdom. Once a soul has tasted the sweetness of God‘s compassion they weep tears over any way that they turn from the depths of that Love. That are hearts would be watered with this kind of contrition is an extraordinary gift! To see contrition as a gift is admittedly difficult. Yet in reading the fathers one comes to see that it is not only the prerequisite for the spiritual life, but also the path that opens one up to the deepest consolation. To see ourselves as we truly are, to stand in the light of the truth, may be extremely painful, but that light comes from the Physician of souls, who in the very act of revealing our sins removes them. It is then with freedom that the soul can entrust itself to God to chastise it; knowing that “a broken and contrite heart the Lord will not scorn”.  Every breath becomes a groan; a cry of love that is united to the groan of the Spirit that dwells within the human heart. The humbled soul is then elevated, exalted, to God who embraces his prodigal child and rejoices. This bitter path then is the path to true joy. And taking it, the soul loses interest in anything else around him; most of all the actions of others or their sins. He will judge no man, knowing that he himself will soon stand before the Judge of all. Imagine hearts that take up the burden of their own sins, that do not say so much as a word on their own behalf and that confess what they have done and accept that whatever comes to them is just and fitting for it comes from the hand of the Lord! Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:13:35 Myles Davidson: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/9068317091?ref_=mr_referred_us_au_nz 00:18:08 Anthony: I knew it! Jazz music. :) 00:23:24 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 241 A paragraph starting “For many….” 00:23:45 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "P. 241 A paragraph s..." with 🙏🏻 00:38:44 Anthony: The Communion of the Saints. 00:41:19 Anthony: Then it is a blessing to endure the enemies' false accusations now to be vaccinated against them and hope in God at the moment of death. 00:58:10 Suzanne Romano: So important to understand that these lamentations are not hyperbole, but rather the depth of the anguish of self knowledge in this vale of tears. 01:00:41 Anthony: When I would hear about people's great Sins, I would realize the root of every one I could see in myself in small ways and it was terrifying.  I think maybe this realization is also part of Isaiah's grief? 01:05:05 Forrest Cavalier: ps 51:19 My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit; a contrite, humbled heart, O God, you will not scorn. (Much of the previous paragraphs from Ephraim mirror Ps 51, too) 01:05:22 Suzanne Romano: It's interesting to consider whether this depth of the remorse of self knowledge, and the pain and crying out to God that is engendered, becomes the seed of perfect confidence in God as Physician and Helper. 01:05:37 Anthony: Then we should pray for the greatest of sinners as if we are praying for our own souls? 01:09:05 Sr. Mary Clare: I think of St. Mary Magdalene weeping for her sins on the feet of Jesus and how He says to her that her sins are forgiven because she has loved much. Her compunction of heart was seen in it's depths by Jesus Christ 01:09:14 Maureen Cunningham: Jesus prayer 01:11:27 Suzanne Romano: One of the most heartening thoughts for the contrite, is that their suffering is love. It doesn't feel like love, but it is love, and the God of Love recognizes it. 01:12:00 Sr. Mary Clare: Reacted to "One of the most hear..." with ❤️ 01:20:26 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You , Blessing to all 01:21:16 Sr. Mary Clare: St. Peter sees the miracle of Jesus multiplying fish, He says, "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man." In the confessional we approach the mercy seat of God, and we almost want to say the same as Peter did. God's mercy is so great! 01:21:22 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂 01:21:24 Catherine Opie: Once again thank you Fr. and God bless 🙏🏻❤️

What is it that forms and shapes us the most as human beings? What affects the way that we perceive reality and gives form to the thoughts that we have  throughout the course of a day? Do we have any awareness of an interior life or are we simply drawn along by the flow of external realities; demands, responsibilities or forms of entertainment?  According to the Fathers and Saint Isaac the Syrian, we are in a constant state of receptivity through our senses. Part of being a human being is that we see and perceive everything that is around us; all of which give rise to a multitude of thoughts, images and feelings. Our lack of awareness of reality and of the internal life and the effect that our thoughts have upon us means that we often allow or identity to be shaped by the changing tides of the times or the constant shifting of our emotions.  In so many ways, the Fathers were the first depth psychologists. Their movement to great solitude and the stillness of the desert allowed a greater awareness to emerge of what was going on internally. This of course didn’t lead immediately to understanding or transformation. However, the awareness did allow them to begin to discern the source of their thoughts, what thoughts predominate, and where their thoughts were leading them.  Thoughts can be so strong and so deeply rooted that they become habitual - as well as the actions that follow from them. These habitual thoughts and actions the Fathers call “passions” and the passions as a whole are referred to as the “world”.  Our growing capacity to acknowledge the dominant passions and to struggle with them allows two things to begin to emerge: a good transformation of our way of life and a greater capacity to understand the nature of our thoughts. Simply put, one begins to be able to measure one’s way of life by what arises from within.   In this Homily, Saint Isaac is setting the stage for guiding us along a path to spiritual healing and transformation in Christ. The fruit of the struggle promises wholeness, freedom, and the joy that our sin often prevents. When we are guided simply by our private judgment or by what satisfies our most basic needs, then our understanding of things becomes very insular and myopic and we lose sight of the dignity and destiny that is ours’ in Christ.  The more that we desire the life and freedom that Isaac describes above the more discover that we need to have no fear of anything. One who has tasted the love and mercy of Christ also finds emerging within himself the courage of a lion. The fear of soul that once overshadowed him succumbs before this ever-present love like wax from the heat of a flame. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:08:36 Bob Čihák, AZ: Is this the book? Amazon has: The Secret Seminary: Prayer and the Study of Theology by Fr. Brendan Pelphrey  | Apr 28, 2012 00:16:08 Mary Clare Wax: It has all the bells and whistles! Love it 00:18:29 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 124, paragraph 14 00:19:08 Myles Davidson: Replying to "P. 124, paragraph 14" “Think to yourself…” 00:20:04 Suzanne Romano: Hey Studge! 00:20:29 Stephen Romano: Hey sis  :) 00:20:47 Suzanne Romano: Reacted to Hey sis  :) with "😅" 00:25:37 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: HEART - (καρδιά - kardia): not simply the physical organ but the spiritual centre of man’s being, man as made in the image of God, his deepest and truest self, or the inner shrine, to be entered only through sacrifice and death, in which the mystery of the union between the divine and the human is consummated. ' “I called with my whole heart”, says the psalmist - that is, with body, soul and spirit' (John Klimakos, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Step 28, translated by Archimandrite Lazarus [London, 1959], pp. 257-8). ‘Heart’ has thus an all-embracing significance: ‘prayer of the heart’ means prayer not just of the emotions and affections, but of the whole person, including the body. 00:25:52 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: REASON -, mind (διάνοια - dianoia): the discursive, conceptualizing and logical faculty in man, the function of which is to draw conclusions or formulate concepts deriving from data provided either by revelation or spiritual knowledge (q.v.) or by sense-observation. The knowledge of the reason is consequently of a lower order than spiritual knowledge (q.v.) and does not imply any direct apprehension or perception of the inner essences or principles (q.v.) of created beings, still less of divine truth itself Indeed, such apprehension or perception, which is the function of the intellect (q.v.), is beyond the scope of the reason. 00:25:57 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: INTELLECT - (νοϋς - nous): the highest faculty in man, through which - provided it is purified - he knows God or the inner essences or principles (q.v.) of created things by means of direct apprehension or spiritual perception. Unlike the dianoia or reason (q.v.), from which it must be carefully distinguished, the intellect does not function by formulating abstract concepts and then arguing on this basis to a conclusion reached through deductive reasoning, but it understands divine truth by means of immediate experience, intuition or ‘simple cognition’ (the term used by St Isaac the Syrian). The intellect dwells in the ‘depths of the soul’; it constitutes the innermost aspect of the heart (St Diadochos, §§ 79, 88: in our translation, vol. i, pp. 280, 287). The intellect is the organ of contemplation (q.v.), the ‘eye of the heart’ (Makarian Homilies). 00:25:57 Adam Paige: Reacted to "REASON -, mind (διάν…" with 👌 00:26:02 Adam Paige: Reacted to "HEART - (καρδιά - ka…" with ❤️ 00:40:30 Catherine: Reacted to INTELLECT - (νοϋς - ... with "❤️" 00:41:30 David: I find it interesting some of the main physicist and philosophers are now finding or theorize we are living in a simulation. I have a few atheists people I have come to meet who came to Christ agonizing on things like this.  This seems to be an open door to understand this life is not all there is. I also find it interesting reading the desert fathers. 00:42:49 Suzanne Romano: Acedia? 00:43:10 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "Acedia?" with 👍🏼 00:43:31 David: The worst is the bad translation of acedia badly translated the worst of all today.The seven capital sins, also known as the seven deadly sins, are: Pride Greed Wrath Envy Lust Gluttony Sloth 00:47:04 David: Having studied Economy it is clear the market and people are not rational. Thank God I learned science explains little about real life. ha ha 00:48:54 Anthony: Heresy is a club of people with the same private judgment 00:49:04 Anthony: Reacted to Having studied Econo... with "😂" 00:49:29 Suzanne Romano: Yes! 00:51:11 Ren Witter: To be fair, Father, you look like someone out of the Matrix 😄. Perfect robes. Just need the glasses. 00:51:25 Lee Graham: Reacted to "Heresy is a club of …" with 😂 01:02:01 David: Many atheist or agnostics look for meaning and believe science or stoicism will explain it.  Then they have a child or love someone and that can't be explained rationally alone 01:02:48 David: Love makes little sense but one "knows" it is more real than anything else 01:03:04 Ben: Replying to "Many atheist or agno..." And I think it was Bishop Sheen who said the worst thing for an atheist is feeling grateful and having no one to thank. 01:03:10 Anthony: And then, I think, perception becomes more acute to sense brief affirmations from God that you are not lost. 01:03:54 David: Replying to "Many atheist or agno..." 👍 01:04:16 Art iPhone: Reacted to "And I think it was B…" with 👍 01:07:52 Anthony: Father is this understanding of incarnation the thesis of Song of Tears by Olivier Clement? 01:09:15 Maureen Cunningham: Hound of Heaven 01:11:39 David: Just an image of what someone said 01:11:49 David: Matrix dogging bullets 01:11:56 David: Orthodox preist 01:19:18 David: Is there something like the Catena Aurea but written based on the desert fathers? I find when I do readings of the scriptures or daily readings I always am interested what meditations the desert fathers might have had.  Reading magnificent or give us our day I don't always find as many treasures as what I have found in the desert fathers. Would be wonderful if there was a missal with this or something like the catena aurea. I have had 3 icons Climatus, Issac and Ephraim for 15 years even with those I would be happy 01:20:36 Ben: "The Bible and the Holy Fathers"? A Byzantine nun mentioned this one. 01:21:29 Lori Hatala: Sounds like a book needs to be written. 01:21:58 Erick Chastain: "The Word in the Desert" talks about generally how the Desert Fathers read and lived scripture 01:22:10 Erick Chastain: There might be things like this there 01:24:13 Myles Davidson: Replying to ""The Word in the Des..." That’s a good book! 01:24:25 Myles Davidson: Reacted to ""The Word in the Des..." with 👍 01:25:00 Erick Chastain: How does one practice fear for the soul? 01:26:58 Suzanne Romano: My preciouuuus! 01:27:07 Maureen Cunningham: What week would it be in the Bible and Holy Fathers is it different 01:28:07 Anthony: The choice of gollum is perceptive.  In Jewish folklore, a gollum is an artificial thing brought to "life" by magic. 01:28:47 David: There is a great book on Tolkien. Tolkien and Faith. But think of a life without Love existing helped at least me. The alternative is transactional and life has no meaning. 01:29:59 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You on web site 01:30:41 Andrew Adams: Thanks be to God! Thank you, Father! 01:30:43 David: Thank you father bless you and your mother! 01:30:45 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂 01:30:47 Suzanne Romano: Pax! 01:30:49 Kathleen: Thank you 01:30:50 Jeff Ott: Thank you! 01:30:52 Julie: God bless all 01:30:57 Lee Graham: Thank you

In their discussion of the struggle with the passions and in particular those associated with the bodily appetites and what we experienced through the senses, the fathers do not neglect to show us the effect that our thoughts and our lack of watchfulness can have upon the unconscious. Certain images and ideas will emerge from our dreams and often take on a form that can be agitating or of a subject matter that is disturbing spiritually. The fathers want us to understand that we are not morally culpable for what arises during the night in our dreams nor can the Evil One directly influence what happens because of our dreams such as nocturnal emissions. Yet, are not to ruminate upon the meaning or the content of these dreams during the day. To do so is to open ourselves “daydreaming”, where we openly allow ourselves to think about images thoughts and ideas that came to mind during the night. Such rumination then can be a source of temptation for us. It is best to set such thoughts aside and focus on fostering temperance and love. As long as we are focused upon God then what arises out of the unconscious will eventually be healed as well. However, if we are slothful or worse prideful we become more subject to the effects of such a dreams or their frequency will become more prominent in our life because of our lack of spiritual discipline. In Hypothesis XXXII, our attention is drawn toward the work of contrition. Saint Gregory tells us that contrition manifest itself in many forms of spiritual beauty. This is striking if only because of the negative connotation that the word contrition sometimes holds. Saint Gregory tells us that ultimately it is a path to beauty, goodness and love. When a soul first seeks after God at the outset it feels contrition out of fear. It is humbled by the depths of its poverty and how contrary this is to that which is good and to our essential dignity. Tears begin to flow and as they do the soul begins to develop a certain courage in the spiritual life and is warmed by a desire for heavenly joy. The soul which shortly before wept from the fear that it might be condemned, eventually weeps bitterly simply because of how far it perceives itself from the kingdom of heaven. As the soul is cleansed, however, it clearly beholds before it what the choirs of angels are and the splendor that belongs to these blessed spirits. Ultimately, the soul begins to behold the vision of God himself. One then weeps for joy as it waits to experience this vision in its fullness. When perfect contrition emerges then the soul’s thirst for God is satiated; tears now turning in to the living waters of the kingdom. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:11:02 Lorraine Green: Fr., can you take a Mass request?  Where would we send that is so?  And the stipend? 00:11:33 Suzanne Romano: Reacted to I've got a (pet) rab... with "😄" 00:14:00 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 238 # A 00:21:21 Anthony: This is also an exercise of faith....if a person is hunted by fear of filth, and filth separates us from God, the fathers recommend the exercise of faith and ignoring false feelings of filth. 00:23:37 Forrest Cavalier: Reacted to "This is also an exer..." with ❤️ 00:23:41 Andrew Adams: Reacted to "This is also an exer..." with ❤️ 00:25:25 Suzanne Romano: St. Alphonsus recommends, for holy purity, three Hail Marys before sleep and three upon waking. 00:26:06 Suzanne Romano: TV opens up the portals of the passions. 00:27:32 Catherine Opie: There is nothing more enjoyable to do with kids than to read a book aloud. 00:28:06 Sheila Applegate: Quitting can feel like a drug addiction. It can release the neurotransmitter dopamine and it is so craveable. 00:28:50 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "Quitting can feel li..." with 👍🏻 00:28:57 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "St. Alphonsus recomm..." with ❤️ 00:29:01 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "This is also an exer..." with 🙏🏻 00:29:02 Marias iphone 14: Reacted to "There is nothing mor…" with ❤️ 00:29:33 Bob Čihák, AZ: We gave up TV easily. After we drove 2 cars from WA to AZ and had my laptop brick and the AC in one car break, 7 years ago, we haven't yet bother to get a TV. 00:36:19 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "We gave up TV easily..." with 🤓 00:37:28 Anthony: Fyi....even common technology works against us. I have a program on my new cell phone that I don't know how to get off, and when I swipe to use my phone, I'm getting pornography and other ads that is the first thing I see. 00:38:05 Suzanne Romano: I think porn rewires the brain. 00:40:02 Wayne: Have heard one author say that men who have this issue  want to stop but seem powerless to stop the addiction 00:40:29 Myles Davidson: The book “Your Brain On Porn: Internet Pornography and the Emerging Science of Addiction” looks at the science behind the rewiring process 00:42:17 Suzanne Romano: There's a spiritual warfare aspect to the addiction. 00:43:51 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "There's a spiritual ..." with 👍🏻 00:53:08 Catherine Opie: Replying to "Fyi....even common t..." Is it a google app for news and advertising? I had that on my new phone. You can go to your apps and remove it. It will usually have some kind of media logo on it. So you can see what app it is. Also you can change the settings on your screen, it may just be a simple case of turning off the advertising notifications 01:06:12 Lindsey Funair: Maybe hardest part for me in recognizing the beauty and wanting of the divine is how it folds back on the weak spirit in the form of idolatry and covetousness of that which is so supremely beautiful simply because it reflects God's Love. 01:06:15 Anthony: Reacted to Is it a google app f... with "👍" 01:08:23 Forrest Cavalier: Life-giving repentance is in today's readings. “God has then granted life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too.” Acts 11:18 from today's mass readings (western church.) 01:10:20 Anthony: You also have to love yourself "through" feelings of deficiency, and convince yourself "God hates nothing He has made." 01:17:58 Andrew Adams: Thanks be to God! Thank you, Father! 01:18:01 Sr. Mary Clare: thank you! 01:18:04 Lindsey Funair: thank you 01:18:04 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂 01:18:07 Suzanne Romano: Pax!! 01:18:07 Marias iphone 14: Thank you 01:18:14 Catherine Opie: Deo Gratias Fr. Thank you and may God bless you 01:18:15 Troy Amaro: Thank You Father 01:18:27 Sr. Charista Maria: Thank you Fr. :)

Life in Christ is not an abstraction and the gospel is not simply a set of teachings or an ideology. It is clarion call to “Follow Me” from He who is the Lord of life and love. We are invited to participate in the mystery of Divine Life. Just as the fathers  tell us that we are to “become prayer” and not simply engage in a discipline, likewise, we must become Christ. We must put on Him mind and our hearts must be animated by His Spirit of love.  It is for this reason that Saint Isaac the Syrian places desire at the heart of the spiritual life. There is one path that lies ahead for us – we are to long for Christ and for the life of the kingdom. Anything else is reductive; shrinking the faith down to what is manageable and acceptable to our sensibilities and understanding. It is no longer faith but a simulation or as Christ would say “hypocrisy“.  The reality that Saint Isaac places before us is the need for the healing of the soul; afflicted by sin, we are dominated by the passion. Yet because we are made in the image and likeness of God we often unknowingly reach out to grasp what is greater than ourselves while neglecting purity of heart and the need for God‘s grace and mercy. Such a path only leads to greater darkness. Sin unaddressed, like illness undiagnosed only grows worse. We must seek the healing that comes through participation in the Paschal Mystery; that is, a dying and rising to new life in Christ. We must die to sin and self in order to have the purity of heart and the depth of faith that allows us to comprehend what is beyond the senses and reason.  Central to Saint Isaac’s thought is the purification of the Nous, the eye of the soul. If neglected one simply becomes blind to the presence of God and his love. The words of Christ come to mind in this regard: “the eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is  bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” To neglect such a reality is like the man who shamelessly entered into the wedding feast with unclean garments. We seek to enter into the fullness of life and love while yet immersed in the mire of our sin and clinging to the things of the world. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:13:13 susan: wish I could be there  I am a piano teacher  lol 00:13:20 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 123, paragraph 11 00:27:04 Myles Davidson: Father, a week or so ago you mentioned private revelation, many of which seem to also fit into this category (ie. fantasies of the mind). There are a plethora of so-called seers around today, many of which have been shown to be fakes. How do the Orthodox deal with this phenomena? I’ve heard they have a policy of keeping private revelations as just that… private. What are your thoughts on this? 00:28:12 Anthony: If Christ on the criss is the Bridegroom,  then I can see a person who has desired impure thoughts is running to be like the Bridegroom but is not "ready" to be married. Although, the Gospel does tell us to take up the cross and follow Christ,  without reference to one's state of mind or holiness. 00:37:36 Ren Witter: In my notes from the last time we did Isaac, you said that this teaching is not harsh, but practical. Sin being understood as a sickness, a person who has not yet been purified through praxis simply would not have the strength to take up the cross in such a way as to ascend to theoria. Sounds a lot like the teaching on taking up fasting beyond your strength - you’ll just end up worse off than you were before. 00:44:14 Joshua Sander: My apologies if you've already covered this or if Isaac is about to get to this and I'm getting ahead of him, but how does one discern that one's own "senses have found rest from their infirmity" and that he or she is ready for theoria, especially given that temptations and struggles against sin will always be with us while we are in the flesh? 00:47:00 Nypaver Clan: What page are we on? 00:47:07 Ren Witter: 124 00:53:46 Anthony: I suspect a lot of us seekers are like St Teresa d'Avila who suffer much from bad advice until we run into clearer presentations of faith, hope and love. 00:54:15 Catherine Opie: Replying to "I suspect a lot of u..." Definitely my path 🤣 00:54:24 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "I suspect a lot of u..." with ❤️ 00:54:52 Myles Davidson: add 😁 00:57:23 Myles Davidson: Christ as anchor "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure."  Hebrews 6:19 00:58:28 Ren Witter: The building where this happened was Pitt’s public health building, which is still nicknamed “Our Lady of Public Health” 00:59:11 Wayne: Reacted to "The building where t..." with 😂 00:59:21 Ben: Reacted to "The building where t..." with 🤢 00:59:21 Max Horcher: Reacted to "The building where..." with 😂 01:00:17 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "The building where t..." with 🤣 01:00:45 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "Christ as anchor "We..." with 🙏🏻 01:01:11 Bob Čihák, AZ: Reacted to "Christ as anchor "We..." with 🙏🏻 01:01:32 Suzanne Romano: Hell on earth! 😆 01:02:07 Ben: Replying to "Hell on earth! 😆" Health on earth?... 01:06:16 Myles Davidson: 22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" Matt 6:22-23 01:06:21 Elizabeth Richards’s iPhone: Replying to "Hell on earth! 😆" ““The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭22‬-‭23‬ ‭ESV‬‬ https://bible.com/bible/59/mat.6.22-23.ESV 01:06:23 Nypaver Clan: Matthew 6:23 01:12:35 Myles Davidson: Is the word used here “watching” the same as the Greek word ‘nepsis’? (A concept I’ve found very helpful!) 01:12:57 Anthony: Ok, this is where philosophy fails, for in philosophy I only recall being taught about "a priori" knowledge and "a posteriori" knowledge.  Isaac is in a different dimension altogether. 01:15:02 Myles Davidson: Reacted to "Ok, this is where ph..." with 👍 01:15:18 Alex Underwood: Reacted to "Ok, this is where ph..." with 👍 01:17:25 Ben: Replying to "Is the word used her..." Thanks for pointing that out...I had been understanding "watching" as "vigils"...but I guess in that case it would have just said "vigils". 😆 01:17:59 John Cruz: Come and see…. 01:18:13 Ben: Reacted to "Come and see…." with 👍 01:19:53 Myles Davidson: Replying to "Is the word used her..." Could be both… good point 🙂 01:21:22 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You Blessing 01:21:30 Maureen Cunningham: Yay 01:21:48 Bob Čihák, AZ: Thank you Father. You'll never retire. 01:22:19 Andrew Adams: Thanks be to God! Thank you, Father! 01:22:21 Elizabeth Richards’s iPhone: And with your spirit 01:22:21 Catherine Opie: Thank you Fr. very "enlightening" discussion as always, God bless have a wonderful week 01:22:23 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂 01:22:28 Jeffrey Ott: Thank you Father! 01:22:29 Suzanne Romano: Pax!! 01:22:40 David: Thank you Father! 01:22:41 Kevin Burke: Thank you father!

The more that I read the fathers’ writings and about their spiritual struggles, the more I understand that what we need to see is the desire that is the foundation their life and driving force behind their behaviors.  Our life is to be an urgent longing for God who has given everything to us and revealed his desire to draw us into his life. Our spiritual life cannot be an abstraction; something that exist in the mind alone. Nor can it be a kind of rigorous moralism where one is driven by fear or an intense scrupulosity; rooted in the doubt of God’s compassion and mercy.  We have had to read the Evergetinos very closely and with a critical eye; for the stories capture for us the fathers’ struggle to hold on to the one thing necessary while maintaining a balanced understanding of what it is to be a human being. This is a difficult thing for people to do in general and for the fathers we find that there withdrawal from society intensified and complicated this struggle. We have noted in past discussions the tendency to project the struggle within the human heart onto others as the cause of their anger, lust, etc. In reality, the battle lies within. Having said this, we must understand that desire is the heart of the spiritual life. It is the one thing that we should be seeking to inflame from moment to moment and day to day. This the fathers understood; especially those who had experienced a radical intimacy with God and purity of heart. When one has tasted the sweetness of the kingdom, the life and love of the living God, then the urgency of one’s desire for God and holding on to what is precious becomes the goal of life. When one’s heart has been touched by the Beloved one can think of nothing else. And when one has lost that intimacy through ingratitude or sloth, the depths of pain in the heart is equally great. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:01:43 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: This is the best reflection I’ve read on Climacus’ description of the prison in The Ladder of the Divine Ascent: The visitation of the uncreated Light generates the most intense desire which does not allow man any rest on earth. When speaking to his monastic community, Father Sophrony indicated that the prisoners in The Ladder of Saint John Climacus were not ordinary people. They were not people to be despised as sinners who were expelled to be punished. They were people of unrestrainable desire for God, who had known the uncreated Light and then lost it after having sinned in one way or another. They voluntarily went to that prison, determined to die rather than to betray the covenant they had made with God in the beginning. As we read, some of them were so totally consumed by the pain of their desire and repentance, that they passed to the other life even before they had reached the tenth day of their abode in that prison. 00:01:49 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: There is a verse from the Psalms which truly describes the state of those prisoners: ‘Lord, remember David, and all his afflictions: How he sware unto the Lord, and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob; surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.’ In my humble opinion, there is not a more perfect expression of the gift of longing for the living God than this verse of prophet David.  Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou  “Monasticism” 00:12:35 Suzanne Romano: Nothing in chat 00:12:36 Maureen Cunningham: Nope 00:12:41 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: This is the best reflection I’ve read on Climacus’ description of the prison in The Ladder of the Divine Ascent: The visitation of the uncreated Light generates the most intense desire which does not allow man any rest on earth. When speaking to his monastic community, Father Sophrony indicated that the prisoners in The Ladder of Saint John Climacus were not ordinary people. They were not people to be despised as sinners who were expelled to be punished. They were people of unrestrainable desire for God, who had known the uncreated Light and then lost it after having sinned in one way or another. They voluntarily went to that prison, determined to die rather than to betray the covenant they had made with God in the beginning. As we read, some of them were so totally consumed by the pain of their desire and repentance, that they passed to the other life even before they had reached the tenth day of their abode in that prison. 00:12:49 Suzanne Romano: Yes 00:12:50 Julie: Yes 00:12:50 Maureen Cunningham: Yes 00:12:55 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: There is a verse from the Psalms which truly describes the state of those prisoners: ‘Lord, remember David, and all his afflictions: How he sware unto the Lord, and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob; surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.’ In my humble opinion, there is not a more perfect expression of the gift of longing for the living God than this verse of prophet David.  Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou  “Monasticism” 00:12:59 Troy Amaro: Reacted to "This is the best ref…" with 👍 00:23:47 Adam Paige: Reacted to "This is the best ref..." with 👍 00:23:55 Julie: Beautiful 00:26:46 Bob Čihák, AZ: Reacted to "Beautiful" with 👍 00:52:14 Catherine Opie: Fr. with priests who are in the world they are working with young boys all the time mentoring them as servers and during the mass there is a lot of close contact holding vestments etc. I had never really considered this situation in this way. And we are told these days that human touch is necessary for good mental health as well. 00:52:15 Sr. Charista Maria: Fr. are you familiar with Aelred of Rievaulx, Saint of Holy Friendship? Some of what he shares is different than this. Yes it is scary out there though. 00:52:55 Sr. Charista Maria: St. Aelred is very personable though prudent. 00:56:35 Forrest Cavalier: Like most acolytes, nothing inappropriate happened as I served as an acolyte under many priests for 10 years. Nothing inappropriate. The number of abusers is a small percentage. Too many, but a small percentage. That means that this requirement is not difficult. 00:56:52 Sr. Mary Clare: Concerning priests with altar boys, It takes prayer and discernment to lead the boys to Jesus rather than to themselves. A holy reserve can go a long way. Loving others without any possessive love. 00:57:37 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "Like most acolytes, ..." with 👍🏻 00:57:44 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "Concerning priests w..." with 👍🏻 00:58:22 Lori Hatala: Do you think a lack of reverence contributes? 00:59:02 Sr. Charista Maria: Reacted to "Concerning priests w..." with 👍🏻 00:59:13 Dennis M: Reacted to "Concerning priests w..." with 👍🏻 00:59:24 Sr. Charista Maria: Reacted to "Do you think a lack ..." with 👍 01:13:54 Maureen Cunningham: Yes loud 01:15:44 Suzanne Romano: Isaac speaks about the senses being the conduits of a darkening of the soul. I think he says we have to starve them. 01:15:55 Maureen Cunningham: Desert Fathers went to desert fight the evil. 01:20:54 Sr. Mary Clare: Your beautiful explanations are very balanced. Thank you! 01:21:46 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You 01:21:47 Catherine Opie: It becomes clearer all the time how 01:21:51 Sr. Charista Maria: very good Fr. 01:22:06 Janine: It was great Father! Thank you! 01:22:28 Andrew Adams: Thanks be to God! Thank you, Father! 01:22:35 Suzanne Romano: God bless! 01:22:36 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂 01:22:44 Catherine Opie: God bless 01:22:48 Bob Čihák, AZ: You're always on target, Father. The targets change, thank God! 01:22:48 Troy Amaro: Thank You Father. 01:23:05 Maureen Cunningham: We're do you listen

The experience of reading Saint Isaac the Syrian is something like being caught up in a vortex; not a linear explanation of the spiritual life or spiritual practices, but rather being drawn by the Holy Spirit that blows wherever It wills. It is not as though Isaac’s thought lacks cohesiveness, but rather he presents the life of faith and life in Christ to us as an artist painting with broad strokes. This is especially true in the first six homilies that speak of the discipline of virtue. Isaac seems to be more concerned about our breathing the same air as the Saints. He wants us to be swept up by our desire for God and in our gratitude for His love and mercy. Our life is not simply following a series of teachings or a moral code, but rather embodying very life of Christ. We are to love and console others as we have been loved and consoled by the Lord. If our spiritual disciplines do not remove the impediments to our capacity to be loved and to love others, then they are sorely lacking.  In every way, our lives should be a reflection of Christ and the manner that we walk along the path of our lives should be reflective of His mindset and desire. In other words, we should desire to do the will of God and to love Him above all things, including our own lives. We are to die to self and sin and have a willingness to trust in the Providence of God that leads our hearts to desire to take up the cross daily and follow him. We begin to see affliction as something that not only shapes are virtue and deepens our faith, but that is a participation in the reality of redemption. We are drawn into something that is Divine and Saint Isaac would not have us make it something common. The Cross will always be a stumbling block when gazed upon or experienced on a purely natural level. But for those who have faith, we begin to see and experience the sweetness of God’s love and intimacy with him precisely through affliction. Isaac would have us know that joy in all of its fullness. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:10:51 Catherine Opie: Hi there, where are we in the text? 00:12:03 Lori Hatala: pg 122 Cover a sinner... 00:13:10 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "pg 122 Cover a sinne..." with 🙏🏻 00:13:53 Fr. Miron Kerul-Kmec Jr.: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064674224441 00:14:25 mstef: What's the best place to buy the text for Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian? 00:14:55 Fr. Miron Kerul-Kmec Jr.: Replying to "What's the best plac..." https://www.bostonmonks.com/product_info.php/products_id/635/?srsltid=AfmBOop3vDmjuAXUXQSy7YsihYlEpKvTek3MiYqFazzowWu9fREOmiK3 00:16:24 Thomas: I think he is 44 00:17:52 Suzanne Romano: Charbelle 00:19:03 Una: Reacted to "Charbelle" with 👍 00:20:37 Ben: Replying to "What's the best plac..." Found mine used on Abebooks.com...had study notes, so price was right! 00:22:07 Fr. Miron Kerul-Kmec Jr.: Reacted to "Found mine used on A..." with ❤️ 00:29:15 Suzanne Romano: Cover a sinner as long as he does not harm you. How do we define harm? Is a person's obstinate refusal of the truth the kind of suffering we can relieve? Or can dealing with an obstinate person open our heart up to harm?   00:35:56 Kate : Is there a difference between how the Eastern Church understands sainthood vs the Western Church?  In the Latin Rite you hear the term “heroic virtue” but it seems the Eastern understanding is more “Christ living within.” 00:38:18 Sr. Mary Clare: Reacted to "Is there a differenc..." with 👍 00:38:57 Sr. Mary Clare: That's a good question, Kate. 00:39:43 Anthony: It's important to avoid self-loathing in failure to pursue good things, but commend all things to God's disposition. 00:45:40 Maureen Cunningham: Thank you so true , 00:46:55 David: It is easy to pray for deliverance or in thanksgiving but it seems as you draw closer it seems the only honest prayer becomes- Lord teach me your way I trust in you. 00:51:51 Ben: When Father's elected Pope...bye-bye, pews. 👍 00:52:11 Myles Davidson: Reacted to "When Father's electe..." with 😊 00:52:44 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "It's important to av..." with ❤️ 00:52:46 Thomas: When he says to help the sinners in the first part how much are we supposed to do, because at some point wouldn’t you encroach on spiritual father type of stuff 00:53:02 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "It is easy to pray f..." with ❤️ 00:53:09 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "When Father's electe..." with 🤣 00:54:05 Una: With my long-term fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue (severe) I simply could not keep up with Orthodox services, especially Holy Week. And the fasting. I was glad to come back to the Western rite and more relaxing fasting. God bless those who can do it. 00:54:48 Sr. Mary Clare: Unfortunately, covid became an excuse not to return to Mass. This has become a very sad situation. Watching the Liturgy online has become the norm. No doubt, this was a tactic of the evil one. 00:55:20 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "Unfortunately, covid..." with 👍🏻 00:55:35 Eleana: I have seen more participation AFTER covid. 00:55:47 Jamie Hickman: This is how the TLM is in my experience. Yes, there are rushed low Masses out there, but my decades experience of Sunday Sung Mass is minimum 90 minutes, but usually closer to 2. The 10:30 in my area ends between 12:20-12:30 weekly. In Tampa this year, Easter Vigil began at 7 PM and ended around 12:30 AM...and the pastor actually began speaking some of the prayers in English that are permitted so to save some time. 00:56:07 Myles Davidson: Reacted to "This is how the TLM ..." with 👍 00:56:30 Ben: Replying to "I have seen more par..." Trad. parishes *exploded* with growth, it's true. God brings good out of evil. 00:56:41 Catherine Opie: Interesting that 00:57:00 Myles Davidson: Replying to "This is how the TLM ..." The Extraordinary Form is just that… extraordinary! 00:57:53 Myles Davidson: Reacted to "Trad. parishes *expl..." with 👍 00:58:55 David: In my parish we are filled with millennials and Gen Z even daily mass it is amazing I hope they stay. Before daily mass was just me and a few older people now almost every pew is full. But my parish is very traditional and lots of silence in mass. Covid might have been an momentary issue but now at least where I am I am shocked to see sunday service flow into the atrium and people holding open the doors outside during feasts. 00:58:59 Catherine Opie: Sorry, pressed enter before ready, I find it interesting that existing Catholics might be doing that, avoiding going to mass in person by watching on line, while for converts like myself lockdowns drove me into the arms of Catholicism, and adult conversions doubled this year on last year. 00:59:31 Sr. Mary Clare: Reacted to "Sorry, pressed enter..." with ❤️ 01:00:09 Sr. Mary Clare: Reacted to "In my parish we are ..." with ❤️ 01:01:40 Una: Thank you. Very encouraging. 01:06:51 Catherine Opie: I see the physical pain that intensifies when at mass, praying etc as the level of my resistance to sit with God. I offer it up for the souls in purgatory and breathe through it. As well as having to suffer the perfume other people wear!!!!! 01:06:54 Suzanne Romano: Guadalupe 01:06:54 Anthony: Guadeloupe was 1500s 01:06:58 Ben: Guadalupe was 1531 - Aztecs 01:08:12 Myles Davidson: Replying to "I see the physical p..." Perfumes = penance! 01:09:04 Ben: Reacted to "Perfumes = penance!" with 😲 01:11:32 David: Guadalupe did convert more Christians in the shortest period of time in history after decades of little success in the Americas. My son was baptized in the first stone font when we lived in Mexico,  the next year moved to a museum in Tlaxcala. The first Christians were other communities and the aztecas a minority in the territory were hold outs till Guadalupe. 01:16:57 Ben: Asceticism in the beginning of the spiritual life is basic to the Fathers, but today it's often treated as something for those who are already saints, with no reference to purity of heart. 01:19:05 Eleana: Reacted to "Guadalupe did conv..." with 😮 01:19:35 Lee Graham: Please explain the soul,s incentive parr 01:19:48 Lee Graham: Incentive 01:19:48 Anthony: Asceticism with little prayer and desire sounds similar to Jansenism 01:20:23 Ben: Right - we need all that. 01:23:11 Ben: It's a deep paragraph for 8:38pm 01:23:15 Sr. Mary Clare: What you have been saying is beautiful! 01:23:16 David: Why with all the ministries and works, committee's, Bingo, fundraisers isn't there more spiritual direction and an ER for the the spiritually sick. What I like most about the desert fathers is they identify the error and give a solution or solutions. I am dismayed by the latin approach to dealing with any of the evil thoughts. 01:23:20 Naina: Amen 🙏 Thank you Father 🙏✝️🤍 01:23:57 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂 01:24:02 Elizabeth Richards: Peace to you 01:24:02 Catherine Opie: God bless Fr. 01:24:10 Francisco Ingham: God bless you Fr.! 01:24:11 David: Thank you father may God bless you and your mother.