The relationship between soul and mind is formed over a lifetime by the nature of their interaction while in the body. St. Anthony makes an important and instructive observation. “Just as you treat the soul while it is in the body, so it will treat you on leaving the body.”
Stephen Muse : Treasure in Earthen Vessels
Through the lens of eternity :: this is needfully important
For the soul to repent it must first be awake. It is in this awakening that the miracle of repentance occurs. This is where human will plays a role. The awakening however is not something that rests solely with the man or the woman. The individual alone is not able to bring it about. God intervenes. Then Divine Grace comes. Without Grace a person can not repent. The love of God does everything. He may use something — an illness, or something else — it depends — in order to bring a person to repentance. Accordingly, repentance is achieved through divine grace. We simply make a move towards God and from then on Grace supervenes.
When the film of pride and the sleep of self-contentedness is wiped from the eye of my heart, I know I am but dust called by the Divine breath into life. Made in the Image of God, there is in me, the possibility of being born “from above” from beyond this world and entering into real life. Eternal life is a gift and a potential; never a certainty or a guarantee. God is ever offering Himself to us in hopes that we are willing to undergo the process of responding to the potentials that are opened up through Communion with Him. We cannot be saved without our consent. In Christ God has proposed marriage with humanity purely from love and waits for our response. We are unique creatures invited to taste the eternal Eucharistic joy of never being complete in and of ourselves alone, but only in response to breathing in the divine Grace and breathing out life and gratefulness beyond words. We are made for love and communion with God.
there is a light that never goes out
“And Christ crucified rejoices when He sees us following Him, undaunted and not turning back. Then you should know that in pain and in mourning, in death and in poverty there is, within our hearts a lamp, a light that nobody can ever extinguish.”
Abbot Ephraim of Vatopedi Monastery : Mount Athos Greece
Video sermon on Lent’s Third Sunday Vespers
The things of God, they say, come of themselves, without one being aware of it. Yes, but only if the place is clean and undefiled. If the pupil of your soul’s eye is not pure, do not venture to gaze at the orb of the sun, lest you be deprived of your sight – which is simple faith, humility, confession from the heart, and your small labors according to your capacity.
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian
Homily Two
On Thankfulness to God, In Which there are Also Elementary Lessons
Do you wish to commune with God in your intellect by receiving a perception of that delight which is not enslaved to the senses? Pursue mercy, for when something that is like unto God is found in you, then that holy beauty is depicted by Him. For the whole sum of the deeds of mercy immediately brings the soul into communion with the unity of the glory of the Godheads splendor.
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac of Syria
Homily One, Number 7
A man who talks of virtue from the experience of his own labour transmits virtue to his hearer just as though he distributes money earned from his own commerce, and as it were from out of his own possessions he sows his teaching in the ears of those who give him ear. Such a man opens his mouth with boldness before his spiritual children.
The Ascentical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian
Homily One Number 38
Everything is won’t to run to it’s kindred; and the soul that has a share of the Spirit , on hearing a phrase that has spiritual power hidden within, ardently draws out its content on herself.
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian
Homily One – Number 26
The Thanksgiving of the receiver incites the Giver to give gifts greater than the first. He that returns no thanks in small matters is a dissembler and dishonest in greater ones also. If a man is ill and he recognizes his ailment, his healing will be easy. If he confesses his pain, he draws nigh its cure. There are many pangs for the unyielding heart, and the patient who resists his physician amplifies his torment. There is no unpardonable sin, save the unrepented one. Nor does any gift remain without addition, save that whites received without thanksgiving.
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian
Homily Two : On Thankfulness to God, In Which There Are Also Essential Elementary Lessons
Jesus Christ did not promise us an easy time nor even a harmonious one. But He promised us a joy that no man could take from us. He promised us ultimate victory and sure place in His Kingdom. He promised us His companionship,
“Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20). That His companionship is worth more than all else, those who have experienced it know for a fact – it is the pearl without price for the possession of which a man might well sell off all that he has.
As we stand on the brink of this new year, which seems to be filled with foreboding, let us face up to whatever it may bring in a truly Christian frame of mind. That is to say, with quietude and confidence, because we trust God with all our joys and sorrows. Putting His will first, we know we have nothing to fear, even if we “walk through the valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23:4) for if the Lord is with us, whom shall we fear?
Let us start the new year with a cry of joy, praise and thanksgiving “Praise God in His sanctuary, praise Him in the firmament of His power… Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord” (Psalm 150:1-6)
Princess Ileana (Mother Alexandra) December 12, 1956
“Life Transfigured” A Journal of Orthodox Nuns
volume 50 #3
gladsomelife.com 