Philokalia Ministries

Tonight we had the opportunity to discuss asceticism as a preparation for the holy season of Lent. We find in the spiritual  tradition a clear call to enter into a struggle to live the life of faith to its fullest. We are to strive to enter by the narrow gate.  When we look to the Scriptures and the writings of the Saints we see very clearly that they took no passive approach to the embrace of the faith. They knew that it must be lived and that their life must undergo a revolution. To live in accord with the beatitudes or the sermon on the mount means that one will not fit into the norms of this world. Just the opposite. In so far as we experience ease within this world, or experience success and the favors of this world we may be living a life at enmity with God.  Our life should be about seeking to love God above all things and seeking to please him. Our exercise of the faith, our asceticism, means nothing if it is merely an exercise of endurance. It must be rooted in our desire for God and the things of God. It must be rooted in love.  Seen in this light, Lent should not be simply a 40 day period that comes and goes; but rather a springboard into a more committed life in Christ.  Lent is about repentance; turning toward God and away from self and sin. May we take this truth to heart and so know the healing of God‘s grace in all of its fullness. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:03:14 Jean-Paul: in a vow of digital simplicity no camera and no mic   00:20:12 Jean-Paul: Could you please re-state the name of that journal   00:47:16 Andrew musano: “Do that which is good, and no evil shall touch you. Prayer is good with fasting and alms and righteousness. A little with righteousness is better than much with unrighteousness. It is better to give alms than to lay up gold: For alms doth deliver from death, and shall purge away all sin. Those that exercise alms and righteousness shall be filled with life: But they that sin are enemies to their own life.”   + St. Raphael the Archangel, Tobit 12:7-10   00:50:41 Anthony: Contendire in Latin.  Contend. Not just "you signed an intellectual contract to get to Heaven."   00:51:30 Jean-Paul: The Great Fast begins with the Exultation of the Cross Sept.14   00:53:00 Louise A: My dear Father always practiced Ember day fasting....if I remember they were originally associated with the great feasts Christmas,Easter, Pentecost.   00:56:30 Andrew musano: Listed below is dates for Fasting in the East. I hope this helps.   https://secureservercdn.net/166.62.112.219/1a3.c9d.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/the-fasts-of-the-orthodox-church.pdf   01:04:13 Jean-Paul: Carthusian guidance on fasting  http://www.quies.org/quies_fasting.php   01:05:30 Jean-Paul: Carthusian fasting for the Fathers is usually on Fridays and consists of eating solely bread and water   01:10:47 Andrew musano: Let all involuntary suffering teach you to remember God, and you will not lack occasion for repentance.   + St. Mark the Ascetic, “On the Spiritual Law: Two Hundred Texts” No. 57, The Philokalia: The Complete Text (Vol. 1)   01:18:56 Andrew musano: Ash Wednesday Is a beautiful tradition. 01:28:21 Andrew musano: A foretaste of Heaven on Earth   01:36:09 Ren: The adults are the real annoyance. Lets get rid of all of them :-D ;-)   01:48:59 Jean-Paul: Can anyone tell how long tonights gather will be   01:50:56 Jean-Paul: We are on page 4 will we complete the PDF tonight?   01:52:26 Andrew musano: “It is necessary for a Christian to fast, in order to clear his mind, to rouse and develop his feelings, and to stimulate his will to useful activity. These three human capabilities we darken and stifle above all by ‘surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life’ (Lk. 21:34).”   — St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ   02:10:22 Jean-Paul: More than 40% of the women over 75 live alone -- perhaps there are more hermits and monks than one knows.   02:11:11 Bonnie: This has given me an entirely new way to prepare for Lent.  Much deeper, more meaningful, and hopefully long lasting.  Thank you Father!   02:11:17 Miron Kerul Kmec: thank you   02:11:24 ellice: Thank you! This was beautiful   02:11:28 Jean-Paul: Peace and all good   02:11:29 Andrew musano: Thank you Fr.   02:11:40 Anthony: Thank you :)   02:11:50 Larisa Cowell: Thank you Father I loved it.   02:12:04 Louise A: many thanks Father  

Tonight we concluded letter 77 and went on to read letter 78. As we have seen in past weeks, Theophan is much more direct with Anastasia now that she has made her decision to enter into the religious life. In multiple ways, she has been tempted either by those who have no faith, by her fear of injustice and false accusation, or her desire to express and pursue her own freedom. Theophan warns her against all these things and the kind of false freedom especially that we cling to that offers no hope. In fact, Theophan refers to it as an “evil impulse that is evil”. We are called to walk the path of the cross; to die to self and to self-will and to live for Christ. We have not been promised the love of the world. Rather, we have been promised just the opposite - its hatred. Why would she want to flee her parents house when in reality it is a protective environment for her? It is there that she can learn the life of a obedience at the hand of those who love her the most. What greater opportunity is there to be formed for the religious life than this? Don’t chase false freedoms, he warns her. The impulse to freedom is like chasing rainbows or desiring to catch shadows. When we look at the world we see unhappy people desperately seeking to assert themselves -  often at the cost of others. She must learn to look at her life in the light of Christ and her freedom in light of the communion of love in which she exists with God. Anything else is an illusion. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:06:03 Art: Posting a follow up to Eric C’s question from last week.  While he was asking I was reminded of one possible answer to the dilemma whether to obey the Church 10 years ago or the Church one month ago.  Rather than butcher the response, I’ve included the actual source.  It begins around 15:28 and ends around 20:50   Two points I found helpful were the comments that in a crisis there is an objectively right thing to do. “You hold on to what was always believed everywhere by everybody.”  “What has the Church always believed?  That is what I must continue to believe.”  And    “The faith does not change.  What was once true is still true. Either it was false then, in which case it is false now.  Or else it was true then and it’s true now.”  The speaker is Fr. David Sherry SSPX.    Hopefully you find it helpful.   http://sspxpodcast.com/2021/12/crisis-series-49-father-what-can-i-do-about-the-crisis-in-the-church/   00:32:13 Anthony: I've wondered if this applies to legal processes such as the cases for freedom to act according to a well formed conscience.  OK, suppose you lose the case....would that change your acting according to a well formed conscience?  We are called to accept persecutions.   00:35:35 Anthony: Would the truth of the cross apply to suffering under the English "Reformation," the French Revolution and the Vendee, the American Revolution....and current events like in Eastern Europe?   00:40:30 John Clark: I once had to confront an office bully…It was a good outcome   00:43:00 Lyle: Today, some of us were meditating on the Office of Readings regarding St. Polycarp's martyrdom.  His last words brought tears to my eyes.  “I praise you for all things, I bless you, I glorify you through the eternal priest of heaven, Jesus Christ, your beloved Son. Through him be glory to you, together with him and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen”.   00:43:21 Lyle: Surrounded by the fire, his body was like bread that is baked, or gold and silver white-hot in a furnace, not like flesh that has been burnt. So sweet a fragrance came to us that it was like that of burning incense or some other costly and sweet-smelling gum.   00:44:18 Carol Nypaver: Amen!  St. Polycarp, pray for us!   00:46:48 Erick Chastain: you get an academic department at a major public university   00:47:22 Erick Chastain: 😅   00:59:53 Eric Williams: I was bullied every year of my public education. Hardly a desirable kind of socialization.   01:05:21 Ren: Booooooo ;-)   01:05:29 Cathy: I am offended   01:05:49 Carol Nypaver: 🤣   01:06:22 Ren: Suffragette #1 over here :-D   01:06:36 Ashley Kaschl: 😂😂😂   01:09:59 Lyle: Too many times MY exercise of freedom led me FROM the LIGHT (My Lord) to DARKNESS (Rebellion and sin.)   01:13:06 Eric Williams: seen on a bumper sticker: “Teenagers, quick, leave home while you still know everything!”   01:18:49 Edward Kleinguetl: His book, Tattoos on the Heart, is amazing!   01:19:26 Marylouise Lambert: Homeboy Industries   01:20:49 Anthony: We (the Church) were helped along in our deplenishment by Josephism, Jansenism, Americanism.   01:21:53 Anthony: Febronianism....all worked to diminish our unified spiritual/social role   01:22:46 Erick Chastain: actually... I think it was 1 year ago   01:22:54 Miron Kerul Kmec: Thank you!   01:23:03 Cathy: Good for you Eric!!   01:23:13 Mitchell Hunt: Thank you Father David   01:23:16 Erick Chastain: It was this podcast that told me about grace   01:23:22 Anne Barbosa: Thank you!   01:23:26 Cathy: Thank you Father!   01:23:43 Cathy: Bring snacks!  

Tonight we continued with Hypothesis 18 on the importance of seeking the company of virtuous people and questioning so as to learn about the spiritual life. What we find in the writings and the lives of the desert fathers is a stress on the importance of seeking counsel. One never walks spiritual life in isolation. We should foster a zeal within us to talk about the spiritual life with those who have experiential knowledge that is rooted in many years of striving to live the gospel in its fullness. We are given one example after another of individuals seeking out the counsel of elders, being swept up in the desire for their wisdom, and being willing to travel great distances to learn from them. May God instill within our hearts that same yearning and urgent longing for God and for the truth. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:06:57 Mark: Which version of “The Ladder” are you going to use?   00:07:39 Rachel: good to know   00:08:18 Eric Williams: I shared some quotes from the Evergetinos with my Saturday morning men's group   00:08:37 Anthony: Nice   00:12:27 carolnypaver: Page?   00:13:12 Fr. Miron Jr.: 135   00:16:07 Anthony: They had a visit, it was time to go, and the went outside to leave but kept talking for hours?  Maybe they were Italian. ;)   00:17:40 sue and mark: they must have been!   00:23:45 Anthony: Does this maybe come as a result of the "frentic energy" which Father David warns against? A kind of energy that just wants to be dissipated but not focused?   00:34:22 John Clark: Personally praying the rosary silently keeps me in constant contact with the Lord and Holy Spirit   00:46:28 Rachel: It is mostly our own vice   00:50:17 Anthony: Heresy of Americanism, too   00:51:44 Eric Williams: Catholics have forgotten how to be in the world but not of it.   00:53:30 Erick Chastain: Bp athanasius schneider   01:00:02 Eric Williams: Is this a stone age tool? ;)   01:01:03 Rachel: " Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord.."..   01:04:10 Eric Williams: Unfortunately, big books/sets are hard sells these days, even to those who seem engaged in their faith. Attention spans are short, people are busy, and we're conditioned to pay attention to sound bites and memes.   01:07:42 Eric Williams: I still have your notes from the Climacus group you led years ago (20?). :)   01:10:07 Rachel: WOW!!   01:13:01 Erick Chastain: can confirm about cmu   01:13:38 Rachel: I feel like that everytime I talk lol   01:13:57 Wayne: gotta go   01:14:41 Eric Williams: I've always appreciated how succinct and to the point your homilies are. The anxiety was worthwhile!   01:16:19 Ambrose Little: Unless you just don’t like apples. 😄   01:17:15 Fr. Miron Jr.: and also in slovakia   01:17:31 Rachel: haha   01:17:53 Lyle: May hungering and thirsting for God drive us to a passionate, relentless pursuit of Him.   01:20:04 Rachel: Thank you Father  

Tonight we began with Letter 76 where Theophan again takes up the temptations that are coming to Anastasia from unbelievers. They have begun to call into question the reality of God and the dignity of the human person; making absurd arguments and trying to twist her up within them. With clarity, he tells Anastasia simply to stay focused upon the dignity of the human person. No matter how diminished we are physically, emotionally, or spiritually, we always bear within us the grace of God who created us in His image and likeness. Even if that reality seems to be lost altogether and personhood is called into question, each individual has an inherent value and dignity in Christ. Within the Divine Economy God is always working through the circumstances of our lives in order to bring about our salvation. Life in this world may seem unreasonable or harsh but none of it prevents God from manifesting himself in our lives and bringing us to a share in His Eternal Life.  In Letter 77, Theophan focuses upon another temptation rooted in domestic unpleasantness. Anastasia is frustrated by having to live in obedience to her parents and postponing her entrance into the monastery. This is the Evil One’s doing, Theophan tells her, and he has muddled her brain, confusing her mind with uncertainty. It is all deception, Theophan warns her and she must cross herself and drive out the temptation. It is tantamount to making mountains out of mole hills. We tend to do that with so many things in our life. Rather than fighting the good fight of faith against the evil one we will direct our frustration outward on to other people and circumstances. We must embrace those circumstances in a spirit of humility and obedience, always seeking to conform ourselves to Christ and to see our lives in light of the mystery of the Cross. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:04:47 FrDavid Abernethy, CO: No Whining. St. Theophan   00:16:14 Eric Williams: If I'm not mistaken, "idiot" formerly had a clinical definition before entering the vernacular.   00:17:48 Anthony: Like Dostoevsky's book "The Idiot," which referred to an epileptic.   00:19:43 Anthony: Herman the Lame was a hymnist and scholar and had terrible afflictions.   00:20:45 Eric Williams: https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/idiot   00:27:44 Anthony: Sometimes stark contrast helps us understand the point better; sometimes it gets in the way.   00:28:58 Rachel: When I was a child, there was a girl my same age who our family knew that was mentally retarded. My Dad told us children, that people that are born this way go straight to Heaven. That they cannot speak or they would tell all of the secrets of Heaven. Every once in a while we were all supposed to volunteer to take Stephanie out and keep her company and give her care givers a break. One Sunday, I jumped on the opportunity to be with her. I already did like to be with her but now that I thought she knew the secrets of Heaven I could not wait for my turn. She never said anything but she just grabbed my face and smile when I asked her. As I child I felt happy but jealous of her being able to go straight to Heaven.   00:37:22 Edward Kleinguetl: 21   00:38:01 Anthony: He was not even Coptic, but, i think, Ghanian   00:38:43 Rachel: Oh my goodness. They are martyrs!   00:38:46 Luiz Eduardo Lawall: This is very frustrating   00:45:56 carolediclaudio: Hahahaha love it   00:51:35 Erick Chastain: sorry my dog unmuted the mic   00:52:01 Eric Williams: Did he eat your homework, too? ;)   00:52:04 carolediclaudio: :)   00:57:16 Rafael Patrignani: very interesting! thank you. I have to leave,   00:57:31 Anthony: Evil one said "I will not sevre"   00:57:50 carolediclaudio: Bye Rafael!   00:59:18 Rachel: Wow   00:59:41 Anthony: Dom Scupoli was another who obeyed and apparently was vindicated later.   01:00:11 Rachel: Please give me the name of the other holy brother?   01:00:52 Anthony: Savonarola in Florence; Dom Scupoli was the other   01:00:56 Ben Miralles Jr.: Girolamo Savonarola   01:01:22 Rachel: Thank you   01:04:39 Rachel: lol   01:13:18 Anthony: We have been formed mentally to be like a scholastic....but without the mysticism the scholastics (like St. Thomas!) should have had. (and St. Thomas did have)   01:16:41 Jk: so true anthony   01:22:37 Eric Williams: "Everyone argues too much!" "No we don't!" ;)   01:22:59 carolediclaudio: :):)   01:30:31 Erick Chastain: Paisios also says that this age has a rampant spirit of impudence   01:30:51 Erick Chastain: Too many rebels everywhere.   01:32:04 Kmec: Thank you   01:32:17 Eric Williams: Rebels without a clue!  

Tonight we concluded letter 75. This letter and those that follow all focus on particular temptations that Anastasia is facing as she approaches her decision to enter into the religious life. Theophan in Letter 75 focuses on the tricks of the enemy to dissuade her or throw her into despair because of the weaknesses, sins, and poverty that she sees within herself. His counsel to her is to allow these things to humble her but not to throw her into despair. Her endurance of the struggle is for the sake of crowns, he tells her; that is, the growth and perfection of the virtues.  In letter 76, Theophan begins to focus on the temptations that come from unbelievers. These are much more subtle, he warns her, and those who engage her will seek to cram a lot of worthless garbage into her head. They might be wise and clever in the ways of the world but underneath their words can be a malicious spirit that poses a threat to her faith. She must be willing to let what they say go in one ear and out the other and not purposely expose herself to the narrow mindedness and hard heartedness of those opposed to the faith. She must examine her own bewilderment and leave no trace of it within her mind and heart. Faith is a gift of God instilled within us by our very creation. It is older and greater than education and society. These things pass on knowledge to a new generation.  However, we must understand that religious belief is part of every race because it is also the part of every man. In fact, “man is not man”, Theophan says, without it. To cast away our faith, to undermine it through neglect, is to distort and mutilate ourselves. He who does not have faith departs from the fundamental reality of who we are as human beings and in the process can make himself freakish on both a moral and psychological level. The perception and experience of reality is undermined by cutting oneself off from He who is Reality itself. Our response to this must be to embrace our faith fully and to allow it to transform us without any opposition; to allow the grace of God to inflame and purify our hearts. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:05:42 FrDavid Abernethy, CO: bottom of page 289   00:14:16 Rachel: 😐   00:18:36 Anthony: comfort -> cum forte -> with strength   00:22:31 Anthony: I learned that at least in the time of the last Tzar and Rasputin, the Russian nobility were drawn to theosophy and other dangerous curiosities.   00:29:34 Eric Williams: And by being sucked into these unproductive battles, we risk behaving as the pharisee, rather than the publican.   00:29:57 Rachel: This is so good   00:30:23 Anthony: See HIllaire Belloc, "The Free Press"   00:33:05 Rafael Patrignani: Kierkegaard' s book: 'mortal sickness' talks about that process that leads to desperation   00:33:45 Anthony: Some "Science" is just philosophy or the occult in disguise.   00:34:51 Rachel: You're not alone for sure.   00:35:28 Philip’s iPhone: I’m working in a catholic high school and I can even relate !   00:35:30 Anne Barbosa: I also avoid having lunch with my coworkers   00:35:35 Eric Williams: Alas, too often science is distorted and contorted into scientism.   00:36:15 Erick Chastain: Eric W, my catholic scientist friends call it "teh science"   00:40:01 Eric Williams: “Tolerance is an attitude of reasoned patience toward evil … a forbearance that restrains us from showing anger or inflicting punishment. Tolerance applies only to persons … never to truth. Tolerance applies to the erring, intolerance to the error" - Fulton Sheen   00:42:32 Rachel: Wow.   00:43:59 Rachel: This is so timely and helpful. When we see ans sense a lack of the spirit of generosity in the other to engage in Truth, to seek Truth, we have more of an obligation to disengage. Quickly.   00:48:17 Rafael Patrignani: objectivity is an act of love and death to ourselves   00:50:11 Philip’s iPhone: Please remind me which number letter we are discussing?   00:50:27 Philip’s iPhone: Thank you !!   00:50:51 sue and mark: 76   00:58:57 Rafael Patrignani: nowadays I think culture is in a state worse than secularised.. it's increasingly against Christianity..   00:59:31 Anthony: Pierce v Society of Sisters   01:00:08 Anthony: the state tried to destroy Catholic schools precisely due to formation   01:02:24 Erick Chastain: sadly jack Kerouac grew up catholic   01:03:06 Erick Chastain: but ironically he led me to the faith (indirectly)   01:08:36 Eric Williams: Transhumanism is a mess   01:08:48 Rachel: "Face it, you're a moral freak!" okay..yeah I could see how that could be problematic.   01:09:38 Rachel: Because it gets filtered through the perspective of a mutilated sense of self that is not* rooted in Christ.   01:09:53 Eric Williams: Great. Now I'm hearing "moral freak" being sung by Rick James in my head. ;)   01:12:31 Rachel: Oh my goodness that is already happening.   01:13:33 Carol Nypaver: Frightening….   01:13:37 Rafael Patrignani: it's old like mankind but apostasy makes it worse   01:14:28 Rafael Patrignani: the lack of the spiritual anchor puts in danger the boat   01:14:51 Anthony: Khalil Gibran, "The Wise King" poem is about societal delusion   01:23:24 St. Stanislaus Kostka Religious Education: I am most turned off by the turn of some religious people pointing at others rather than asking for God’s grace that we ourselves become fire.  As I think of the saints of renewal they seem to be more about the fire of the spirit rather than blame of others   01:24:39 Mitchell Hunt: Thanks Father David   01:25:26 Mitchell Hunt: Still uploading to YouTube afterwards?   01:26:10 Eric Williams: Easier to keep trolls and spammers out via Zoom, too   01:28:18 Rachel: Thank you!   01:28:23 Mitchell Hunt: Awesome appreciate the pod bean archive 👍  

This evening we began Hypothesis 18 on the importance of seeking the company of virtuous people and the benefits of questioning them with zeal and desiring to learn from them. In many ways this is an important hypothesis for the modern mind; to understand the need to be docile, that is, teachable. We must learn to be humble in our approach to the mystery of God‘s revelation of himself to us and his son. We will always be in the position of learners. Likewise, we will never be beyond needing instruction in the life of faith from those who have an experiential knowledge of striving to enter by the narrow path.  In fact, we have the distinct responsibility, the fathers tell us, to either learn with sincerity what we do not know or to teach with clarity whatever we have learned. There is no static position in the life of faith. If we believe so, we fall into a kind of madness that ends with apostasy. Part of our desire for instruction is our desire for God and our yearning for him. We should always be thirsty to understand the ways of the Lord.  It has been said that a starving man has no sense of taste. We see this in our own generation. The failure to teach the faith and the pass on an understanding of the spiritual life has led to a void so deep that men and women have begun to search far and wide for something to nourish them; despite the fact that they have what is most precious already in their possession. Even if we seem to understand nothing or we see no immediate change within us - as if we ignored the teaching of the elders - we should be confident that the seed they planted will eventually bear fruit. Furthermore, simply being in the presence of those who are holy engraves on the soul the immutable archetype of virtue. Simply being in the presence of one who loves God can instill that same love and devotion within our hearts. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:10:06 FrDavid Abernethy, CO: page 134 Hypothesis XVIII   00:24:00 Forrest Cavalier: Mt 13:12 To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.   00:31:44 Ashley Kaschl: Gotta run 👋   00:37:01 Erick: that liturgical culture is still there at your local FSSP Latin mass parish   00:38:10 Erick: even rogation days don't make sense in the present day liturgical calendar   00:38:34 Erick: it did make sense in the 1962 calendar.... we have lost the syntax   00:38:53 Carol Nypaver: Or Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest Latin Mass. 😇   00:39:07 Erick: indeed carol!   00:39:40 Eric Williams: I’m worried that Traditionis Custodes will make it harder for Westerners to rediscover traditions like rogation days or more “rigorous” fasting. (I don’t bring TC up to be controversial. I’m really quite sad for the future of venerable traditions in the West.)   00:39:57 Forrest Cavalier: I attend FSSP, Ordinary Form, and Byzantine. No one is safe from new deceits of Satan, at any parish.   00:41:05 Erick: it's funny because TC is making it easier to access rogation days etc in the short run. but in the long run agreed.   00:41:37 Erick: (because TLM attendance has gone up since TC came out)   01:09:57 Rachel: That is the exact thing that stuck with me as well! I went to a Mass many years before my conversion and everyone was kneeling and focused on Our Lord. I had no. idea. what was happening before me. Bit it stuck with me.   01:11:46 Forrest Cavalier: She might be Byzantine. They stand for that part of Liturgy!   01:13:17 Rachel: lol   01:15:33 Ambrose Little: Well, I’m gonna be the odd man out here.. I too have gone to TLM masses for years, and I like it and appreciate it, but…    One doesn’t need rogation days, particular ways of celebrating the mass, or the old calendar to imbue one’s daily life with the Faith. We have a current Church calendar. It is packed with memorials and feasts for saints, Our Lady, and the life of Christ. We have Lent. We have Advent. We have Eastertide. We have Christmastide. We have the Divine Office—you can fill your day with prayer, seven times a day if you wish—and more. The Holy Mass is remarkably available for most of us—even I here in the boonies have two reasonably close daily masses. There are many third orders, institutes, associations, and more (e.g., programs like This Man is You, King’s Men, etc.) that offer ways of more fully practicing the faith with the help of others.   If we can’t imbue our lives with the Faith with all these available to us, then the problem isn’t with the Church, it is with us.   01:17:01 Vicki Nichols: I agree with you Ambrose   01:17:55 Erick: we are human ambrose LOL. The Church should make it easier, not harder   01:20:16 Rachel: The Liturgy affects the way you pray and what a person believes and how understands and relates to God and the world around them. It all starts there and ends there, from Communion to Communion.   01:20:34 Erick: and the Church, when she takes things away or alters them to be less helpful, actually hurts our process of becoming imbued with the faith. as st Thomas says, we learn through the senses   01:22:14 Rachel: Yes!   01:22:22 Ambrose Little: Everything I listed is there to help, and more. There are oodles of helps. Many people live vibrant, faith-filled lives happily without missing the older forms/devotions. Have to be careful about projecting personal preferences out as if they are objectively superior.   01:23:22 Rachel: Thank you all and Father!  

Tonight we read Hypothesis 17 on what we build our hope upon in this life. The focus of the hypothesis, on the surface, is avarice and greed; the intensity of this passion and the insatiability of our desire for worldly goods. We are given one story after another revealing to us, however, that the real struggle is found within the heart. There is a kind of tendency within us toward idolatry or better said in the context of our relationship with God adultery. We attach ourselves to the things of this world, we love them and desire them in the fashion that we should only love God. God is the pearl of great price, the treasure hidden in the field. He who has faith and sees the value of this love should be willing to set aside all to process it. Like St Paul, we should see all as rubbish in comparison to the love of God that we receive in Christ Jesus. We are shown in the stories the subtlety of this kind of avarice even to the point of commodifying spiritual acts and deeds. We can see them as possessions arising out of the self and the desire for self-preservation rather than the love of God. We are warned that this passion can become so rooted within us that it cannot be subjugated. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” --- Text of chat during the group: 00:25:23 Mark Kelly: A friend recently commented that Modern culture is now based on addiction.  Addicting us to many perceived needs.   00:25:48 Ashley Kaschl: 💯   00:26:05 John Breslin: 👍   00:37:54 Anthony: "MY PRECIOUS!!!!!"   00:38:26 Anthony: I didn't appreciate that LOTR was a commentary on basic vices.   00:38:33 Rachel: Me too   00:40:45 Mark Kelly: A great point about LOTR.  Most of the “desire” for the ring relies on the imagination of the one who covet’s it.  The power of The Ring is never fully demonstrated.  The lust for the imagined power alone is another to lead the soul to destruction.   00:41:50 Anthony: Oh wow, thanks, Mark.   00:45:55 Rachel: It reminds me of the Franz Jaggerstatter film   00:49:04 Rachel: When one truly seeks silence, internal and external as much as possible while living in the world, it seems to me Our Lord will provide many experiences of having to cling only to Him. There are sufferings in people's lives that can be like the cell or the desert in the midst of community etc.   00:56:10 Rachel: That quote made my 18 y.o. laugh out loud and say I love that. Never heard that quote before!   00:59:26 Anthony: And our Anglo American law is very much about acquiring wealth and keeping it in the family.  It militates against virtue, and is a "schoolmaster" in vice.   01:08:52 John Breslin: Fruit of the poisonous tree…   01:10:40 maureencunningham: What is the name of the book she reading?   01:12:20 Forrest Cavalier: John   01:12:32 Carol Nypaver: Josef Pieper Virtues of the Human Heart   01:12:33 Ashley Kaschl: A brief reader on the virtues of the human heart by Josef Pieper   01:16:00 Mark Kelly: I love Fr. Lazarus   01:16:39 maureencunningham: Thank You   01:17:14 Ashley Kaschl: Here’s the prayer of self-offering, too 😁    Receive, Lord, my entire freedom.
Accept the whole of my memory,
my intellect and my will.
Whatever I have or possess,
it was you who gave it to me;
I restore it to you in full,
and I surrender it completely
to the guidance of your will.
Give me only love of you
together with your grace,
and I am rich enough
and ask for nothing more.
 Amen.   01:18:03 maureencunningham: Beautiful thank you   01:18:25 Anthony: Weight of the heart goes along with the fire burning the gold, too. The philosophical property of earth was heaviness.  The property of fire was lightness.  We can either cooperate with the lightness of God's fire, or God's fire will just conquer the heaviness of earth against our will.   01:19:18 maureencunningham: Blessing Thank You   01:20:08 Anne Barbosa: Thank you!   01:20:08 Rachel: Thank you!   01:20:47 Rachel: Yay!!   01:20:54 Natalia Andreu: Thank you!   01:20:55 Rachel: Thank you! Perfect timing  

We began this evening with letter 75 entitled “The tricks of the enemy.” Anastasia has fallen into sadness inexplicably. Her heart is overcome with heaviness and darkness. Theophan, therefore, wants her to understand exactly what is going on: she is engaged in spiritual warfare and these are the attacks of the enemy.  However, he exhorts her, “the power of the cross is with us! Take heart and stand fast.”She need not fear the enemy that is attacking her and approaching her from every side, creating such a disturbance that her world seems to be turned upside down. She must simply cope as well as she can and be long-suffering in the battle knowing that it will pass. She need only “not consent” to anything that is not necessary. Similar to Job, Anastasia must thank the Lord both for the times that are peaceful as well as the times of difficulty. She must simply throw herself before the Lord with her whole being as well as call upon the Mother of God to intercede on her behalf.  Theophan does not deny that she is suffering attack. However, he wants her to be like a soldier; steeling herself against the enemy’s attacks, unwilling to change her intention or decision one iota. She must struggle and renounce his suggestions and curse them. The more that the evil one murmurs in her ears the more she must call out to Christ and simply express her belief even when all seems shrouded in darkness. She must state clearly “I do not want any of this, anything the enemy suggest.” Rather, he tells her, she must want one thing; to “speak solemnly before the Lord in her heart.”  Fight the good fight of faith even when you find yourself thrown down and seemingly overcome. --- Text of chat during the group:  00:22:47 Lyle: Do NOT consent!  Each of us KNOWS, yes KNOWS, where we are spiritually weak.  If you can not do anything else, pray - "Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner!  Cleanse my thoughts!  Cleanse my heart!  MAKE my thoughts, YOUR thoughts!"   00:23:20 Edward Kleinguetl: Amen!   00:33:51 Lyle: Even the Archangels do NOT battle the demons directly.  Michael on behalf of God Almighty, as a representative of His kingdom said "The Lord rebuke thee."   00:40:12 Lyle: Deuteronomy 31:6.  Be strong AND courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them (distractions, demons, etc.) , for the LORD your God goes WITH you; he will NEVER leave you nor forsake you.”   00:49:52 renwitter: “The Asceticism of Joy”   00:55:05 Rafael Patrignani: we know and live the perfection of love in the trials. are we with God or not?   00:57:00 Sharon: Reading and praying over “Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, the secret of peace and happiness” has helped  me, Anthony.   00:57:13 Lyle: John 14:27.  Our Lord, HIMSELF said, “Peace I leave with you, MY peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let NOT your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”   01:17:45 Cathy: Very well said Erick   01:22:38 Miron Kerul Kmec: Thank you Father  

Tonight in our reading of The Evergetinos we concluded Hypothesis 15 and read the entirety of Hypothesis 16. Both have a similar focus: our natural loves and affections for others or the things of this world are to be set aside for the love of God in the kingdom. We must acknowledge that all things begin and end with God and all things come to us from His hand. Simply put - all is grace and our acknowledgment of this truth should give us a kind of freedom to set aside or worldly attachments be they bad or good. Once again, we are presented with multiple illustrative stories that challenge our sensibilities. We see individuals who heroically struggle to let go of worldly ties, not because they are evil but in order to be able to embrace not just the greater good but that which is eternal. Even that which is good, even our virtues must be perfected by the grace of God. In many different ways we can be willful; we can choose paths, even those that are religious in nature, because they appeal to her sensibilities rather than being clearly something that God demands. We must let go of the illusion that we are the source of life and salvation. It is a particularly modern notion of creating a better world or acting to bring about societal change as the object of the deepest aspiration of a person’s life. All that we read from the lives of the Saints shows that they see things through the lens of God’s revelation of Himself to us in His Son.  Our dignity and destiny as human beings is found in Christ and it is Him that we must seek and devote ourselves to completely. It is only when all things are subordinated to Him that we come to see our lives and others with a kind of clarity. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:09:01 Rachel: Oh darn, Im too late! lol   00:11:41 Daniel Allen: Where are we at?   00:11:58 Carol Nypaver: 123   00:16:59 Anthony: This may be the movie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhKorITYvDU   00:44:03 Rachel: I LOVE that story! Because I am a twin, so I understand very much!   00:45:02 Rachel: Wait, weren't they twin brother and sister? I could be wrong...   00:45:33 renwitter: Yes :-)   00:52:38 Anthony: This story also indicates that the monastics were not completely cut of from their families....St. Ioannikos had to have known of his brother-in-law's rage for him to pray for his brother-in-law.   00:54:34 Rachel: :)   01:00:07 jack: Their human dignity   01:01:30 Rachel: Please share the talk by Kallistos Ware!🙏🏼   01:02:10 Anthony: This disfigurement of the image of ChristI think distinguishes our understanding of sin from _Total Depravity_ of the Calvinists.   01:03:00 Rachel: WOw, wow, wow! Thank you!!   01:03:12 Erick Chastain: that's great!   01:05:09 renwitter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Body_of_the_Dead_Christ_in_the_Tomb   01:08:15 Erick Chastain: which book by Mectilde de bar are you reading now?   01:08:17 Rachel: Oh my goodness. One of my favorite readings.   01:08:33 renwitter: Breviary of Fire   01:08:42 Erick Chastain: thanks   01:09:17 Daniel Allen: What caryll hauls lander book was that quote from?   01:10:46 Carol: I think it may be Rocking-Horse Catholic   01:12:29 Daniel Allen: Thanks   01:13:44 Rachel: I had never heard Fr. Abernathy's interpretation but the one Anthony stated. I don't think they conflict though, as the intention of the heart, the lengths this child was willing to go to in order to live the life of a monk in this community.   01:16:35 Rachel: Yes, exactly. This is one special case.   01:17:03 Rachel: St. Rose of Lima used to try to make her face ugly.   01:17:37 Rachel: Not because she thought the gift of beauty was bad.   01:19:06 Rachel: It is jarring because of the reality of disordered passions.   01:19:26 Anthony: Sometimes the young saints need correctives: like St Simeon Stylite went too far in his penances.  We need to be sane, not crazy.   01:20:23 Erick Chastain: Some are fools for Christ   01:21:01 Rachel: Yes, I do not tell my non Catholic family or, even some fellow Catholic these stories of the Saints. Because I think it would cause scandal and be too jarring.   01:22:40 Forrest Cavalier: In the story here, if the scandal was temptation, the knowledge of paternity was not enough to protect him in one skete, and he expresses doubts that it will go better when it is not known. He was desperate.   01:24:40 Ambrose Little: Doesn’t seem to follow why they’d focus on the paternity, if it were just youthful attractiveness? Maybe nepotism? Maybe they had a rule against father-son in same monastery?   01:25:41 renwitter: I agree. It seems to me that the scandal really was the Paternity   01:26:36 Anthony: I usually thought of nepotism in Middle Ages. It didn't occur to me to read it here.  It could fit.   01:26:48 renwitter: Why else would the problem the son presents be that everyone knows they are Father and Son, and they will know it at the next place to? I thought he disfigured himself so that no one would see the resemblance.   01:29:00 Ambrose Little: I always look at the particularly self-disciplining saints as a kind of object lesson—they are showing just how far we are from where we ought to be. The saintliness came first; they were called to these penances, presumably, for a reason, if their wills were unified with God’s, as is the idea for sanctification.   01:29:57 sue and mark: while I do not know much, I have always heard that holiness is always beautifully balanced.   01:30:51 Rachel: Thank you, God bless!   01:31:10 David Fraley: This was great! Thank you!  

Thank you to everyone who participated in tonight's group on St. Theophan's Letters on the Spiritual Life to Anastasia.  Great conversation as always. Synopsis: Tonight we read letter 74 entitled “Yearning for the monastic life”. Anastasia has made a decision to enter the monastery; she has decided to give herself over completely to God in mind and body. And yet, Theophan senses within her a kind of urgency that is pressing her forward and making her want to rush the moment of her entrance. He wants her, however, to pray and wait with patience. He does not want her to enter the religious life in a willful fashion precisely because she’s entering in order to set aside her will in the spirit of obedience. Thus, she should strive to let God act in her life and open the door for her to enter in the time He desires. For the moment she is to focus upon embracing the life of a monastic at home; deepening her spiritual life, living in obedience to her parents, making herself a novice in relationship to all of her siblings. She is to be, as it were, a soldier in training; humbling herself and preparing herself for the rigors of the religious life. Such waiting takes nothing from her. In fact it serves her by allowing her to mature emotionally and spiritually precisely that she might endure in her vocation.  He reminds her of the history behind such a vocation. In the beginning monasteries did not exist - nor vows. What existed were men and women filled with a desire and yearning for God and it is this spirit that she must foster. She must enflame the desire for God within her own heart by being faithful in the moment. She must wait and adapt her life and her habits to those in the monastery. But most of all she must wait upon the Lord who says “Come follow Me”! --- Text of chat during the group: 00:06:26 Rachel: How do I get a snazzy picture like that??   00:19:23 Anthony: And some people had her religious desire, but God (I suppose) chose them never to enter a community, such as Benedict Labre or the Pilgrim of the Russian classic.   00:28:05 Edward Kleinguetl: "Gentle, organic approach" -- love it!   00:31:20 Anthony: FYI under the Lombard Laws of the 600's to about 800s or so, Vowed and nonvowed persons living a religious life were both recognized as having special protection against violation by criminals.  One living the life but not vowed as treated as or just about as at the state of a religious person.   00:38:09 Anthony: "The Ancient Path" is Talbot's book about his community   01:14:26 Wayne Mackenzie: got to go see you monday   01:16:24 Anthony: We in the West are sometimes formed by a relatively small cadre of Western Catholics, too....and that is magnified by the psychologies of certain persons who choose messages to magnify to the rest of us.   01:17:11 Rachel: I do have to say that put here in California, I am  blessed with a wonderful grace filled parish. 🙏   01:17:31 Edward Kleinguetl: Rachel, that is great!   01:20:38 Rachel: Even though I do and have encountered hesitation about the desert Fathers, when I point out how there are western Saints who teach and lived the same way, who loved the desert Fathers and read quotes from the desert Fathers, people start usually listening. I then refer them to the Oratory talks.   01:21:27 Edward Kleinguetl: Evagrios the Solitary: “If you are a theologian you truly pray. If you truly pray you are a theologian.”  This is what we lost in the West when spirituality was separated from theology.   01:21:48 Rachel: I think I am, but, have never been. I know about th Orthodox parish downtown and go pray Vespers sometimes with them. a beautiful church.   01:22:02 Rachel: I am in Sacramento.   01:23:45 Rachel: I'm I'm rad Trad too lol   01:24:15 Anthony: Pope Francis elevated St. Gregory of Narek as Dr of the Church though he was canonically in Armenian Apostolic Church.  And WOW is Gregory's works beautiful.   01:24:45 Edward Kleinguetl: Details 😀   01:26:39 Miron Kerul Kmec: Thank you Father