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We continued this evening to delve more deeply into the fathers’ understanding of the practice of fasting. Once again we see that they learned from experience that it is better to eat once a day but not to the point of satiation. One must be measured and restrained in the practice, so is not to become weak and incapable of work or of fulfilling one’s prayer rule.
We also began to see that there was variance in the practices embraced by various monks, both in terms of their diet and the amount they ate. The practice was not to pamper the body but also not to destroy it. The body is necessary in the spiritual battle. Thus one must be discerning in one’s spiritual practice and patient.
We were also introduced this evening to the particular temptations that arise throughout the course of one’s spiritual life. Again, we must realize that we struggle not only with our own natural weaknesses and the weakness of our sin, but also with temptations and provocations that come to us from the Evil One. We are often tempted by what we see. We covet what appeals to the eyes and seems to promise enjoyment or satisfaction. We hear stories of the father’s catching themselves being tempted to break the rule of fasting.
What is needed is humility. Fasting is a discipline and when we fail we are to humbly acknowledge it and confess it. We must never be tempted after having fallen to hide our failure or lie about it. It is then that we are truly in the grip of the father of lies and will be further led astray by even greater deception.
Finally, we were taught that there are certain passions that we must be willing to cut out of our life completely. There are certain things that have such a hold on our hearts and enslave our wills that there must be the courage and the willingness to remove it from our lives completely. We must always be willing to choose the better part and to sacrifice all for that pearl great price.
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Text of chat during the group: 00:10:41 David Fraley: Hello everyone! Thank you! 00:11:08 David Fraley: Thank you! 00:11:29 Bob Cihak, AZ: P. 154 A 00:16:00 Bob Cihak, AZ: P. 154 A 00:21:40 Anthony: Yeah, I multiplied devotion. It wasn't so great for me. 00:28:34 Joseph Muir: What page are we on? 00:29:11 Bob Cihak, AZ: P. 156 C 00:33:21 Anthony: That bread isn't going to rise well like french bread. It's either flatbread or pancakes. That's a basic sacrifice. 00:33:48 Vanessa: Replying to "That bread isn't goi..." no yeast. 00:38:04 Sandra Whatley: "Silence is a place where the serpent can not go. It is a place as toxic to him as his environment is to us"Father 7/23 00:39:09 Sandra Whatley: This is what Father told me in prayer 00:45:30 Nikki: The desert fathers approach fasting in different ways. How do we find out what we should do personally regarding approaching a limitation of food (choices & amount) along with heightened self-discipline, when over time the difficulties of continuing that level of intensity may have one think with all seriousness that they should start eating more/fast less? Concerned perhaps they are not eating enough and maybe their bodies showing signs of this. 00:54:26 Nikki: Thank you 00:54:46 Kevin Burke: https://archive.org/details/tolovefasting/mode/2up 00:55:19 Kevin Burke: On-line version of the Book To Love Fasting 00:58:39 Nypaver Clan: Would it have made more sense to leave it for someone else than to waste it? 01:06:48 Nypaver Clan: There’s a reason the computer is “Apple.” 01:07:18 Bob Cihak, AZ: Reacted to "There’s a reason the..." with 😯 01:07:20 Nypaver Clan: The symbol is very telling…. 01:09:41 Sheila: A large amount of tv shows out there are straight up porn but it's easy to make excuses that it's ok to watch...but let's be real...is it? Single, in a relationship or married, the toll it takes on yourself or the person you care about is so subtle..but it erodes away at real intimacy. 01:11:07 Sheila: Truth. 01:12:14 Una: I used to write Christian romances (clean romances, no sex scenes) but i gave it up because I felt it did harm to people's imaginations and spiritual life, setting up unreality. I think the Desert Fathers would have something to say about this! 01:13:10 Una: Movement toward Reality. Well said! 01:14:53 Anthony: Isaac came to my home today! 01:15:25 David Fraley: Thanks, Father! Have a great night! 01:15:26 Sandra Whatley: Thank you so very much. 01:15:36 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂 01:15:53 Troy Amaro: Thank You Father. -
What is prayer and, more importantly, what do we become by engaging in prayer? So often we take a reductive view of the realities in our life, including the reality of our relationship with God. We reduce our converse with God to a discipline or an afterthought or worse and obligation. And yet as we read the fathers, we begin to see with greater clarity that prayer involves a kind of mutual vulnerability. We stand before the Other, God, withholding nothing of ourselves from him. In this, we imitate Him who has revealed himself to us in the most vulnerable fashion. He has drawn back the veil and revealed his heart to us and the depth of his love and compassion.
Such a vision of prayer precludes are treating it in a common fashion; approaching it like we would any other interaction. However, what we are drawn into from the moment of our baptism is the very life of God, a participation in the life of the most holy Trinity. Prayer, then, becomes an expression of identity, of who we are as human beings and what we’ve become in Christ. Seen in such a manner, an unquenchable thirst should arise within the human heart to remain in prayer and prolong it. One desires to linger long with the Beloved. It is to choose the better part. So much of what we learn, and our taught leads only to the fragmentation of the self. The frenetic pace of life and the desperate pursuit to satisfy expectations that we have for ourselves or that others place upon us distorts who we really are. We are sons and daughters of God, heir to the kingdom of heaven, and the Spirit that dwells within the heart alone gives us the capacity to express the love God Himself has for us.
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Text of chat during the group:
00:14:45 Bob Cihak, AZ: P. 237, #34 00:38:13 Callie Eisenbrandt: Father how do we learn something everyday in prayer in times of spiritual dryness? Sometimes it feels like its difficult to see what you are to learn until you look back on prayers from the past but how do you do that on a daily basis? 00:39:51 Wayne: late what page are we on? 00:41:07 Bob Cihak, AZ: p. 238, #38 or so. 00:41:35 Wayne: thnx 00:42:41 Christian Corulli: I think it would ruin the prayer if we did understand the points of dryness 00:53:39 Victor: Parental bragging rights enhanced by need for non-ending FB posts. Good points. Let kids play. “Leisure, the basis of culture”. 00:53:44 Alan Henderson: Father, on this point about children, what are your thoughts about finding a balance between - letting children have the play time as you mention, and finding them hobbies/activities that they can enjoy (and spend time with friends). I agree with you that this is a major concern in how we are shaping our kids. 00:55:50 Leilani Nemeroff: If I had it to do over, as a parent, I wouldn’t have felt obligated to run to so many activities. 00:56:06 Wayne: Reacted to "If I had it to do ov..." with 👍 00:58:07 Leilani Nemeroff: There needs to be time for more free play. 00:58:56 Victor: Playing cops & robbers as a kid helped me to warn community when gunman was outside our liturgy back in 70s. Also to help generate strategy when a priest & I were chased by robbers in Africa once. 00:59:55 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "Playing cops & robbe..." with 😮 01:00:10 Ashley Kaschl: Reacted to "Playing cops & robbe…" with 😮 01:02:03 Ashley Kaschl: Father, I don’t want to totally change the topic away from good leisure and play, which is so good, but I was thinking about what you said in regards to busying ourselves or adding to our lives when we don’t need to add, and it brought to mind two quotes: the first is a monk’s reflection on his need to leave his cell for begging. He said, “Every time I leave my cell, I return less myself.” And the second is from St. Francis of Assisi, when he would daily pray, “who are You, Lord, and who am I?” I think work properly related to our state in life is meant to be shaped around our prayer time, not our prayer time shaped around our extracurricular activities. I know I fail in this all the time but I find that I have to often reorient myself when I approach prayer because I have to shed burdens I did not know I picked up to carry before I can be with the Lord in a deeper intimacy. 01:03:42 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "Father, I don’t want..." with 🥰 01:05:47 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: I have come to realize that sane and holy life requires quiet time for prayer but also quiet time for psychological wholeness. Time to sort things out... 01:13:07 susan: learned so much!! 01:13:13 Victor: Thanks, Father & everyone. 01:13:17 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂 01:13:29 Jeff O.: Thank you! -
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We continued our reading of the Evergetinos this evening with hypotheses 19 and 20. Once again we find ourselves considering the fathers’ teaching on eating and our use of food. Part of the reason they spend so much time on this subject is because they understand the meaning that food has for us as human beings and that it often goes well beyond that of nourishment. We come into this world and our first and earliest experience is that of being suckled; fed at the breast of our mother and thereby comforted. On a psychological level, food can continue to have this meaning. That is not necessarily something bad. There is a form of communion that we have with each other when we have a common meal. Indeed, this is why Christ gives himself to us as Eucharist. However, in our sin, the desire for food can be driven more by the emotional needs that we have in our day-to-day struggles. The fathers understood that the psychological reality affects us spiritually.
Over and over again, we can turn to the things of this world to satisfy the longing of the human heart that God alone can fill. Christ is the Bread of Life and he alone can nourish us upon his love. Thus the fathers, especially those who entered into the desert, became acutely aware of the need to be watchful of this bodily hunger. When we lose our watchfulness or when we relax our disciplines, once again we can move towards satisfying ourselves through the things of this world.
Food can become an idol. The monks understood that even in our religiosity we can be tempted to celebrate feasts in such a way that we cast aside all that was gained through fasting. What worth is it to fast 40 days of Lent then only to turn around and eat excessively for 50 days until Pentecost?
The fathers also identified another danger. Our religious sensibilities and identity can be just strong enough that they lead us to want to maintain the illusion of holiness and discipline. The fathers warn us about the temptation to secret eating. Hiding the truth from others as well as from oneself only prevents repentance. In order to hold on to the illusion and false image of the self, we can destroy ourselves spiritually.
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Text of chat during the group:
00:16:18 Bob Cihak, AZ: P. 150 00:16:49 Lilly: Reacted to "P. 150" with ❤️ 00:35:32 Forrest Cavalier: That earlier story was Evergetinos 11 in Volume 2. 00:39:02 iPhone: The YouTube channel is Athonite Audio. Audio books from the monks on Mount Athos 00:50:20 Forrest Cavalier: To know, love, serve in this life, and to be with him in the next 00:55:45 Ambrose Little, OP: Only the flamin hot ones, tho 01:07:16 Rebecca Thérèse: Is the real issue that the monk out of pride allowed people to think he was better than he was. 01:09:46 Fr Marty, AZ, 480-292-3381: I too often judge myself based on some preconceived results or image of what I or someone else should look like. Whereas, it sounds like the fruit of the soil that are my circumstances and weakness and gifts. God told Paul, where you're weak I'm strong. God can hide me in his own way that bears fruits that aren't necessarily visible results. 01:12:43 Nypaver Clan: Thank you, Father! 01:12:51 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You 01:13:22 Andrew Adams: Thank you, Father! 01:13:30 Cameron Jackson: Thank you Father. 01:13:33 Troy Amaro: Thank You Father 01:13:34 Rebecca Thérèse: thank you🙂 -
The very words of St. John Climacus seem to carry us up to heights hitherto unknown and unexpected. The experience of this ascent takes place as we feel our hearts begin to burn for love of God and the desire for him in prayer.
St. John quickly moves us away from looking at prayer as a mere discipline and rather our being drawn into the depths of Mystery, the very Mystery of the Triune God. The act of praying is a blessing in and of itself. To enter into this converse with God is also to experience the action of the Spirit within our hearts, the groans of Love that are beyond words.
In all of this, St. John reshapes are understanding of the nature of prayer. It is not a discipline but an expression of our true nature in Christ. We are to become prayer, consumed by love for the Lord; anxious to show that love and treat it cheaply.
Faith, St. John tells us, gives wings to prayer. Through it we see with clarity our hearts’ desire. An urgent longing takes hold of the heart that seeks quick satisfaction; that is, seeks to take hold of the Beloved without delay.
---Text of chat during the group: 00:08:23 Bob Cihak, AZ: P. 237, #26 00:12:17 iPhone: Thank you, Bob 00:12:37 Myles Davidson: Hi Father. Which edition of Isaac the Syrian’s AH will you be using? 00:13:38 iPhone: Beautiful book 00:13:51 Bob Cihak, AZ: Previous posts don't show for newcomers, so I repeat: P. 237, #26 00:14:02 Bob Cihak, AZ: Yes! “The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian, revised 2nd Edition” published by Holy Transfiguration Monastery, https://www.bostonmonks.com/product_info.php/products_id/635 . 00:14:16 Cindy Moran: I just got mine in the mail---loving the glossary. 00:14:43 Cindy Moran: Excellent...yes! 00:26:15 Anthony: I think the focus on law and duty that we see in some Catholic subcultures damages our understanding of prayer in this mystical way. At least, I think it was not healthy for me, with efforts like "storm heaven with this novena." 00:27:53 Myles Davidson: Reacted to "Yes! “The Ascetical ..." with ❤️ 00:30:43 Anthony: Another thing about legalism is that it chokes faith. 00:34:13 Anthony: Like how God said His name was blasphemy among the nation's by bad behavior of the Chosen people. 00:35:35 Kate : I have had to undo a lot of this strict legalistic teaching over the years. Sometimes I fall back into it, and I think it is actually easier for my mind to grasp this legalism rather than open myself and surrender myself to the Love of God. His Love is almost incomprehensible sometimes, but wonderfully so! 00:35:42 iPhone: Glad you mentioned corporal punishment. When I was five or six, I realized how unjust this violence was and I saw that the nun hit us hard enough to make us cry. In my desire for Justice, I resolved not to cry and I didn’t. After that I was marked as a problem child and never got a break. So, yeah, learning to trust is big 00:36:49 iPhone: The nuns meant our best, I’m sure. But something was really off with Irish Catholicism at that time (early 60s) 00:37:13 Anthony: Replying to "The nuns meant our b..." It's Jansenism 00:38:19 iPhone: I think Jansenism is applicable but not the whole story 00:39:21 iPhone: Oh this is Una. Forget to put in my name 00:55:33 Cindy Moran: It's a sort of Divine healing radiation 01:04:21 Erick Chastain: Sorry about that got in car mode 01:04:27 iPhone: Ignatius and remote preparation 01:06:53 Jeff O.: So it all starts with obedience….is this the generalmovement…recognizing that it’s not quite so linear? obedience —> humility —> discernment —> dispassion —> true prayer 01:12:22 Jacqulyn: Reacted to "Sorry about that got..." with 👍 01:13:34 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You Blessing 01:13:50 Andrew Adams: Thank you, Father! 01:13:57 Cindy Moran: Thank you, Father! Will be in prayer for you! 01:13:58 Jacqulyn: God bless! 01:14:03 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂Have a good retreat! 01:14:05 Nypaver Clan: Is there a particular website we should check to get the next book? 01:14:06 Jeff O.: Thank you! 01:14:10 Art iPhone: Thank you, Father! 01:14:22 Joseph: Thank you, Father. 01:14:40 Nypaver Clan: Is the next book cheaper than $70 anywhere? 01:14:59 Maureen Cunningham: On line -
Synopsis of tonight’s group on the Evergetinos- Hypothesis 18 Sections H and I:
This evening we concluded hypothesis 18 with the clarity that only St. John Cassian can bring. Cassian, though as western monk, spent many years in Egypt among the desert fathers and was able to distill their thought with great clarity for the western mind as well as the western monk. He shows us what the practice, or as he says, the vast experience of the monks over the course of time offers us. They show us that we are to avoid extremes. Fasting is not to be extended over the course of many days because the immoderate practice of fasting leads to the immoderate break of the fast and over-eating. Fasting is to be embraced, not as an end in itself, but as a means to bringing about both internal and external stability to a confused and unruly life. There is only one hard and fast rule and that is not to eat to the point of satiation. In fact, we must understand the uniqueness of each individual in regard to their experience in the ascetic life and the strength of their constitution. Not everybody can restrain the amount of food they eat to the same extent. Nor can everyone live a strictly vegan diet.
Cassian also notes that illness does not come into conflict with purity of heart. It may demand that we lighten our discipline for the sake of the health of the body. But even here we should eat in moderation and whatever the illness demands without making ourselves slaves to the assaults of evil desires. “The moderate and logical use of food ensures the health of the body; it does not detract from holiness.” Once again the fathers prove themselves to be both spiritually and psychologically astute as well as having a clear understanding of the physiological needs that we have as human beings.
Fasting in many way is starting point for us and not only serves us in the struggle for purity of heart by humbling the mind and the body, but it also reveals to us that the spiritual life must involve the whole person. We begin with the basics and our most fundamental need – the need for sustenance. A confused mind is born out of disorder, and this brings confusion to the soul, and from that purity slowly disappears. Much of the turmoil that we experience in our life arises out of the loss of peace that comes from a disordered life. However, when this order emerges within us and we begin to taste something of the peace of Christ, then something is born within the human heart. The Fathers tells us that from the light of peace a pure wind blows through the mind. To the extent that the heart can draw near to wisdom, it receives grace from God. Thus fasting may not seem to be necessary or important in our generation, but for the fathers it lays the very foundation of a life that is caught up in Christ and transformed by his grace.
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Text of chat during the group:
00:09:53 Nicole Dillon: Hello everyone. Happy to be able to join tonite. Thank you 🙏🏼 🥰🕊️ 00:10:46 Ambrose Little, OP: St. John’s Conferences were one of the few booksthat St. Dominic kept and carried with him. 00:24:57 Wayne: Some may be Vegan? 00:25:26 Laura: Vegan - no animal products 00:25:34 Lilly (Toronto, CA): No animal products at all 00:25:50 Forrest Cavalier: There are also fruitarians. 00:25:57 Rebecca Thérèse: Vegans won't even eat honey 00:26:17 Lilly (Toronto, CA): I've been a nut for 12 years 😅 00:26:23 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "Vegans won't even ea..." with 🙄 00:26:43 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "There are also fruit..." with 🙄 00:29:14 Anthony: When the Mongols became Christian, they had a meat and milk diet. They were advised by the "nestorian" bishop to abstain from fermented mare's milk. 00:36:04 Lilly (Toronto, CA): I've always wondered if God's plan for Adam and Eve was for humanity to be vegan? Did original sin bring about the killing of animals and need for such products? 00:36:50 Anthony: Reacted to I've always wondered... with "👍" 00:41:43 Nypaver Clan: Can a disordered life cause mental disorder or does the mental disorder usually come first, then the disordered life? 00:51:42 Wayne: Replying to "I've always wondered..." I don't have the scriptural verse in Genuis that suggest we should not be eating animal products 00:56:29 Rebecca Thérèse: When I worked in mental health over a decade ago, professionals completely adopted the secularist notions towards sexuality and sexual behaviour without even any understanding of different values in this area. For example, stating that a Muslim man would have hang ups around sex because of his religion. Also, a colleague was refused a job because in an interview he said he would advise a Muslim with same sex attraction to speak to a Muslim religious leader. He was told he failed the diversity question as this was the wrong answer since religious leaders are the most conservative of people. It's considered bad for mental health to observe traditional sexual morality. 00:58:36 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "When I worked in men..." with 😢 00:58:55 Lilly (Toronto, CA): Is there an actual scriptural verse in Genesis that can clarify my previous question? 00:59:25 Forrest Cavalier: Replying to "Is there an actual s..." Gen 9:3 01:02:44 iPhone: I’ve been called a bigot for believing that homosexuality activity is a sin and that the attraction is disordered, although I do not reject or condemn this man 01:05:36 Wayne: Replying to "Is there an actual s..." yes that's it 01:06:41 Wayne: Replying to "Is there an actual s..." I checked the foot notes on this verse and did not get clarity on it 01:07:27 Nicole Dillon: Thank you Father! 01:07:53 Laura: Reacted to "Thank you Father!" with 👍🏼 01:08:05 Maureen Cunningham: Thank you, FatherI keep you in prayer for your retreat Blessing 01:08:13 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂 01:08:17 Forrest Cavalier: So grateful! 01:08:21 iPhone: Thank you, Father 01:08:29 Troy Amaro: Thank You Father. 01:08:33 Cameron Jackson: Thank you. 01:08:38 iPhone: Bye bye -
Joy! Suddenly, as we read through the Ladder of Dive Ascent every cross, every struggle in the spiritual life, while still present, begins to fade into the background. The costs involved in this struggle pales in comparison to the blessings and the fruits that God bestows upon us, especially prayer .
St. John places before us the essentials of prayer - as well as what can undermine it. We continue to struggle to confine our thoughts and then to completely still the mind and the heart. When this takes place, prayer becomes perfection and rapture in the Lord.
This joy, however, especially among the anchorites is marked by humility. One does not expose the deepest elements of the most intimate relationship indiscriminately with others. In any case, it would be impossible to do so. As we are drawn along in faith, as we begin to encounter and experience God as he is in himself, words fail us.
What we must do is hold on to what is precious. Imperfections and anxieties can pull us away from God and our trust in his love. Furthermore the evil one is ever set on disrupting that relationship. Plotting and conniving as he is, he will stir an emotion within our heart; or influence another to engage us in such a way so as to agitate or distract. But we must keep our eyes upon the Beloved.
St. John asks, “For what have I in heaven? Nothing. And what have I desired on earth beside Thee? Nothing, but to cling continually to Thee in prayer without distraction.” Hearing these words, one can never look upon prayer simply as an activity or discipline. It is life. It is love. We are to become prayer.
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Text of chat during the group:
00:06:52 Bob Cihak, AZ: P. 235, # 19 00:11:46 Myles Davidson: Greetings from New Zealand! (my apologies for turning up at the end of the last session… got the time zone conversion wrong). Anyway, delighted to be here. These discussions have been an immeasurable blessing to this baby Catholic. Thanking you profusely Father, and God bless you and your ministry!! 00:20:15 Myles Davidson: Do you have any tips for developing watchfulness of thoughts. Is this just a constant practice of mindfulness of thought? 00:29:37 Kate : What about the publication of saints’ diaries or journals? What would the Fathers say about this? 00:30:01 Anthony: Replying to "What about the publi..." I love this question 00:30:36 iPhone: Can you explain vigils? Is it vespers and compline? 00:31:17 Rod Castillo: My Life in Christ by John of Kronstadt ???? 00:32:42 Anthony: So the idea popular in "evangelicalism" (and now with Catholics and Orthodox) of a tell-all conversion story is not appropriate. 00:33:02 Jeff O.: Reacted to "So the idea popular ..." with 🎯 00:34:59 iPhone: This is a fascinating topic, this saying too much Thank you 00:35:31 Rebecca Thérèse: Is there any evidence of changes in attitudes towards publishing personal spiritual journals since the advent of the printing press? 00:37:00 iPhone: Why is this tell-all trend happening? Because so many people have not read the Fathers? 00:37:23 iPhone: Blogs! Immodesty personified! 00:37:30 Myles Davidson: People aren’y going to confession perhaps? 00:56:33 Anthony: Wow. So excessive chasing after goods and the obsession with trans- stuff us a war on prayer. 01:03:27 Rebecca Thérèse: There was a real antipathy towards ancestral religions by many of the founders of modern psychology and psychiatry including Freud. There are also nefarious financial and political interests in these areas 01:06:37 Bob Cihak, AZ: Too true. Too often, it's the easy way out, just prescribing drugs. 01:07:48 Nypaver Clan: An instructor I had at Duquesne U. who was a therapist, often said that the majority of her clients would have best been served in the confessional. 01:13:01 Cameron Jackson: Thank you Father. A great blessing. 01:13:05 Leilani Nemeroff: Thank you, Father! This is a Blessing! 01:13:42 Cindy Moran: Thank you Father! 01:13:43 Andrew Adams: Thank you, Father! 01:13:45 David: Thank you father! 01:13:47 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂 01:13:51 Jeff O.: Thank you! Great to be with you all. -
No one is going to take up the practice of fasting or come to “love fasting” as we have often spoken of unless they are taught by those who have deep and long experience in the practice. As we have seen the desert was very much laboratory. Those who entered into it were driven by the desire for the Lord and to remove any impediment to that desire.
Yet, we see in the writings of the Evergetinos a natural progression, an organic progression, in the practice. Their zeal for the Lord often led the monks to engage in the practice of fasting with great strictness and to radically humble the body. However, they quickly learned that to practice even that which is good in an imprudent and unmeasured fashion was dangerous. To fall into exhaustion from fasting too long could make it impossible for a person to remain awake to engage in the practice of prayer or, similarly, weaken their watchfulness of mind such that they become vulnerable to the provocation of sinful thoughts.
The desert fathers also had to learn that fasting was but an implement. It is necessary for the cultivation of the heart, but it must be accompanied by constant prayer and bear the fruit of love for God and virtue. Therefore, the Evergetinos places us in a privileged position. We are able to sit at the feet of the great elders of old and to learn from the errors and the pitfalls that can cripple us in the spiritual life as well as to be inspired by the fathers’ great sanctity. The spiritual struggle is rarely neat and the path ahead is often hidden to us. The desert fathers are shining light in an age of spiritual darkness and lack of guidance. Thanks be to God for such a precious gift.
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Text of chat during the group:
00:30:18 Anthony: I feel targeted.... 😉 00:36:50 Una: Does that include Irish Coffees? 00:48:47 Anthony: It's a gift to be simple, it's a gift to be free 00:48:54 Forrest Cavalier: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_Gifts 00:49:21 Forrest Cavalier: Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,And when we find ourselves in the place just right,'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.When true simplicity is gained,To bow and to bend we shan’t be ashamed,To turn, turn will be our delight,Till by turning, turning we come 'round right.[5] 00:56:47 Anthony: Excessive sorrow also brings exhaustion. 01:07:30 Anthony: History also shows fixation on pornography is almost always present 01:17:26 Maureen Cunningham: Thank you 01:17:40 Andrew Adams: Thank you, Father! 01:17:46 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂 01:17:50 Kevin Burke: Thank you ! 01:18:03 Troy Amaro: Thank You Father. -
There are some things that cannot be learned from books – prayer most of all! However, St. John, as so many of the Saints speaks to us from long experience as one who truly has seen Christ, knows Christ and has conversed with him deeply. Whatever might be lacking in his thought it still stokes the fire of desire within any heart that longs for God.
The desert fathers understood that God looks upon us as his sons and daughters his children, and the simplest word or groan from the heart is sufficient to express our need and love. Above all, we are to have gratitude and a spirit of compunction. With these then we approach the Lord with the intentions of our hearts.
We should not fear our own weakness or the multiplicity of our thoughts that seem to overwhelm us. St. John reminds us that He who “sets the bounds to the sea of the mind will visit us, and during our prayer will say to the waves thus far shall you come and no further.”
Prayer should be the simplest of things, but also what we hold to be most precious. We should come to see it as necessary as breathing but even more essential. The fathers tell us that we are to become prayer - our life is to be a sacrifice of praise. We are to be the very reflection of Christ. The kingdom is now, heaven is now and dwells within us. May our foolish hearts take hold of the gift that the Beloved offers us so freely.
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Text of chat during the group:
00:01:29 Bob Cihak, AZ: p. 234, # 1.5 00:05:18 Bob Cihak, AZ: We were half way thru #1. 00:05:53 Gregory Chura: Which step? 00:06:03 Gregory Chura: Thank you! 00:39:40 Anthony: So how to ignore the rational and irrational mind when praying? Just pray and eventually it happens? Because my mind gets in the way. 00:40:42 susan: Jesus [rayer 00:45:37 David: Sometimes something tactile like a chotki, rosary or stone ( have one that fits my hand from a retreat center) can help one become grounded. Others a icon or image can help set the mind and still others a candle or breathing technique can quickly return us to a calm state. 00:51:37 Wayne: Doing some active physical activity can settle the mind down before prayer. 01:03:05 Jeff O.: proverbs 24 01:03:22 Jeff O.: verse 16 01:03:24 Nypaver Clan: Verse 16 01:14:56 Andrew Adams: Thank you, Father! 01:14:59 Jeff O.: Thank you! 01:15:02 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂 01:15:05 David: Thanks Father! 01:15:06 Gregory Chura: Thank you, Father! 01:15:11 Kevin Burke: Thank you Father! -
We picked up this evening with the beginning of hypothesis 18. For weeks now we have been reading about the essential practice of fasting. The cultivation of virtue and the overcoming of the passions is impossible without it. Making use of the body to strengthen the soul is a necessity. But we quickly realize from the stories that this practice can become imbalanced; monks could fall into extremes and be tempted to engage in disciplines in ways that feed the ego – ways that make them feel holy or religious.
Yet the desert was a great teacher. The monks learned in this laboratory the subtle movements not only of the mind and the heart, but the way the demons tempt us to extremes. To fast for three or four days serves only to weaken the body and this can disrupt one’s spiritual practices as well as one make one ill. It can also, fill the heart with pride. In this, the gains made in the life of virtue can be lost in an instant.
Therefore, the fathers begin to understand that fasting must be practiced with restraint, measure, and good wisdom. We must never lose sight of the fact that our fasting is tied to Christ and who he is for us. He is the beloved, the heavenly bridegroom, and our fasting and the hunger it produces must be tied in our minds and our hearts to our desire for Christ, the bread of life. He alone satisfies the deepest longings of the human heart. Therefore fasting is not meant to kill the body, but rather re-order our desires toward their true end. Fasting then is to be done with regularity, extending no more than one day. We begin simply by not eating to the point of satiation. We give the body what is necessary, but no more. In all of this we are taught that the royal path to purity of heart is fasting and that light burdens are also profitable.
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00:07:34 Una: Could someone tell me what book we're using? 00:08:20 Andrew Adams: Replying to "Could someone tell m..." https://www.ctosonline.org/patristic/EvCT.html 00:08:44 Una: Thank you! 00:44:43 Anonymous Sinner: What page? 00:47:02 Una: I grew up in Ireland at the time when doctors were doctors and not pill pushers. Our Dr. O'Dolan's best health advice was to always leave the table a little hungry. He was a good Irish Catholic too. I've found following this advice more difficult that doing "heroic" fasts of ten days or so. 01:01:44 Anonymous Sinner: I thought that it was Mother Teresa who said this, about praying for 2 hours when one is busy? 01:07:41 Maureen Cunningham: Moderation in everything even in moderation 01:08:48 Anonymous Sinner: CS Lewis’s chapter on gluttony in the Screwtape Letters comes to mind 01:16:27 Maureen Cunningham: Thank you Blessing 01:16:37 Andrew Adams: Thank you, Father! 01:16:39 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂 01:16:53 Troy Amaro: Thank You Father -
As St. John Climacus comes to the end of the step on stillness and segues into the step on prayer, it is as if he is beckoning us with every word to enter into silence and to give ourselves over to prayer; not as a discipline but rather as a response to the gift of God’s love. We are so often filled with a hunger that is inexplicable to us. We seek to nourish ourselves upon the things of this world indiscriminately - only to find them sadly insufficient. We pathetically move on to something else that captures our attention. The world constantly tells us that it has “some thing” that will fill that void within our hearts.
Therefore, St. John begins to define for us the mother of virtues – prayer. Not once does John describe prayer as a discipline but rather lays out before us all that it promises. The world sees it perhaps as a waste of time or an escape from reality. However, John makes it clear that the union prayer establishes with God upholds the very fabric of the world and opens the door to reconciliation with God. It becomes the cure and the healing balm for the deepest sorrows of human existence.
Those realities that we experience during our life that are most painful are healed by being drawn into the eternal life and love of God - a God who has taken every bit of this suffering upon himself and permeates it. Prayer is our greatest treasure! May God give us the grace in the coming weeks to see and understand this.
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00:15:43 Bob Cihak, AZ: P.232, #77 00:17:02 Bob Cihak, AZ: As best I know, the next book, we’ll be doing is “The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian, revised 2nd Edition” published by Holy Transfiguration Monastery, https://www.bostonmonks.com/product_info.php/products_id/635 . 00:17:13 Jeff O.: Reacted to "As best I know, the ..." with 👍 00:22:47 Jeff O.: I find that the 3 o’clock hour is the hour I most regularly awake to spiritual battle…fear, attacks in dreams, etc. There have been many nights I awake during that hour feeling an overwhelming need to pray and sings hymns… I have increasingly seen the value of praying at some time during that hour. 00:38:44 Anthony: This curiousity is a misdirected "eros" 00:39:42 Ambrose Little, OP: You triggered mine, too. 00:39:47 Ambrose Little, OP: Twice 00:39:53 Andrew Adams: Mine too! 00:40:57 Kathy Locher: How can you break its hold? Internet etc 00:42:37 Anthony: Makes us nervous and anxious too 00:59:42 Lori Hatala: there yourlies also 00:59:47 Rebecca Thérèse: Where your treasure is there will be your heart also 01:20:02 Anthony: If chronological time is a creature, prayer brings us to kairos time which like the shekinah or tabor light, is untreated. Thus things in chronological past can be healed. 01:23:09 Andrew Adams: Thank you, Father! 01:23:10 Cindy Moran: Thank you, Father! 01:23:11 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂 01:23:12 Jeff O.: Thank you! 01:23:32 Kevin Burke: Thank you Father! 01:23:35 Cameron Jackson: Thank you! -
One of the most wonderful things that someone said in the group tonight was: “I am amazed at how simple it all is!” And they are absolutely right in their observation. All that the fathers tell us - about the struggle for purity of heart and overcoming the passions, seeking stillness and constancy in prayer - comes down to one simple reality.
God is love and that all run but “one receives the prize without effort!” He who humbles himself will be exalted. The moment we turn the mind and the heart to God and - even prior to that - the mere existence of humility in our hearts leads God to lift us up to gaze upon him face-to-face. It is like a child who has no illusions about his self-worth or identity, but simply reaches out for the parent and is lifted up immediately in love!
It is this love that the hesychast seeks above all things; the eye of the heart is constantly turned toward and seeking the Belived. What is the one thing necessary that our Lord speaks about in the gospel? Mary sat at his feet being nourished upon his words of love and his presence. This is the better part. We so often complicate our lives and spend years and decades pursuing what the false self tells us that we need or where we will find dignity and the fullness of life. In the end, there is no ladder! There is only love and the urgent longing that makes us strive for it.
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00:22:52 Bob Cihak, AZ: P. 230, #68 00:30:26 Anthony: There is a tension though, between a situation that is wrong which should be made right, and waiting in patience 00:33:32 Anthony: Ok, so like Abraham had a promise that took a long timevtivrealize 00:33:41 Anthony: Long time to realize 00:34:58 Anthony: Thank you 00:37:15 Fr Marty AZ 480-292-3381: be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 1Peter 4:7 00:39:41 Julie’s iPad: It’s hard when you’re accused of something you didn’t do or say not to defend yourself. 00:51:14 Anthony: Ego is the false self. Is Despondency a false remorse? 00:53:58 Nypaver Clan: Without effort? 00:55:09 Kate : I am really blown away by the simplicity of this. How many times I have complicated the spiritual life! 00:58:02 David: I wasted years reading books and talking to people on discernment which always was a labyrinth of paths. On a retreat a old Jesuit Priest made it easy in 1 minute: Does this lead me closer to God or away from God. Our intellect often gets us lost and like a rocking chair giving us something to do but going nowhere. 00:59:41 Jeff O.: Reacted to "I wasted years readi..." with 🎯 01:02:25 Susanna Joy: There is a proverb in Islam: There are as many ways to God as there are breaths of His creatures. 01:02:34 Anthony: FYI it was college professors and lawyers who, from late scholasticism through "reformation " and spirit of vatican 2 caused us so many problems. 01:03:04 Susanna Joy: It is as simple as the next breath, to turn back to God. 01:12:57 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂 01:13:40 Bob Cihak, AZ: The next book, we’ll be doing is “The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian, revised 2nd Edition” published by Holy Transfiguration Monastery, https://www.bostonmonks.com/product_info.php/products_id/635 . 01:14:24 Andrew Adams: Thank you, Father! 01:14:25 David: Thank you Father David! 01:14:28 Jeff O.: Thank you!! Good to be with you all. 01:14:50 Cindy Moran: Thank you Father! -
The desert was a laboratory. The monks went into its depths precisely to push the limits of what they needed in order to sustain themselves; whether it be food, water or sleep. Therefore, we must not find ourselves put off by the stories that seem so extreme. Quite simply, they were extreme!
The desert being a laboratory, compelled the monks not only to evaluate their motives but also the restraint and measure that was necessary in order not to fall into extremes where they would hurt themselves physically or spiritually. Wisdom is hard won. The generations of monks who lived in the desert offer us a profoundly astute understanding of the human person, our needs, our motivations, and what strengthens or harm us in the spiritual life.
They often learned through error. Sometimes their judgment or lack thereof was a source of profound humility. In the coming weeks, we will be presented with the greater wisdom and balance that began to emerge out of this lengthy experience.
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00:17:27 Jacqulyn: I'm from Oklahoma! 00:18:23 Anthony: Replying to "I'm from Oklahoma!" Nice. I'm from Virginia 00:20:47 Jacqulyn: Reacted to "Nice. I'm from Virgi..." with 👍 01:16:46 Anthony: His weeping sounds like DaVinci who lamented not using God's gifts more, or like Cyrano de Bergerac who struggled to maintain honor. 01:17:11 Una McManus: What edition of the book are we using? 01:17:28 Una McManus: Can someone write it here? Thanks 01:17:42 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂 01:18:57 Andrew Adams: Thank you, Father! -
St. John draws us into the experience of stillness and its many fruits. It is a precious gift that comes to us by the grace of God and takes root in a heart prepared through years of asceticism and watchfulness. It is our waiting upon God.
In many ways this sums up the vocation of the hermit/monk. But it also captures the essence of our life and the life of prayer. We are ever waiting upon God to act in our life and we seek to cultivate in our hearts a receptivity to his will and grace. This is the active life, the fulfillment of the vocation for the Hesychast and of all Christians.
The temptations that come are always going to be things that draw one out of that stillness; loneliness, despondency, etc. Whether monk or Christians in the world we must allow ourselves to remain within the crucible of stillness. When we feel lonely and isolated, when we are agitated, our tendency is to run to others or to things within the world. This crucible purifies the desire of our hearts and our faith.
Are we able to give our will over to God? Can we trust that he will make of our lives that which endures to eternity? So often we are set upon fixing, undoing or changing the circumstances of our life that seem inconsistent with what is good or what will lead to a sense of fulfillment. However, when we long for God and when we turn to his love, we become free from being tossed about by the chaos of life. Our hearts find rest only in the Lord - He who is an eternal rock.
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00:03:46 Bob Cihak, AZ: P. 229, #57 00:16:25 Ambrose Little, OP: Happy feast day, Fr. Charbel! 00:27:38 Erick Chastain: The rule of St Benedict even says that there is no eating outside of the communal mealtime. So those who follow the rule outside of the monastery can follow this too. 00:32:22 Anthony: Maybe it could be a person who entered this kind of life is not called to it? 00:34:13 Art: My family has been out of the country for 2.5 weeks. I’ve been trying to give myself a little taste of the solitary life from the little I know. I’m sure my attempt is laughable compared to monks, but I still found it hard! 00:34:14 Callie Eisenbrandt: Can this be related to like normal life? Separating yourself from the world work on your relationship with the Lord - It is difficult to find a "good" community with support - so how is one supposed to mimic this when they are in society 00:43:01 Una: Blessed name day, Fr. Charbel. Any books or sources of his teachings you can recommend? 00:45:11 Cindy Moran: This might seem nuts but I waited until God sent me a mate who loves Jesus more than me 00:45:51 Anthony: "Love is a Radiant Light" is, I believe, a collection of St Charbel homilies 00:46:15 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "This might seem nuts..." with 🥰 00:47:15 Callie Eisenbrandt: Connect me Father! lol 00:49:11 Callie Eisenbrandt: haha thank you 00:51:00 Susanna Joy: A cruise / retreat would be good...count me in! 00:52:25 Anthony: In my experience, the torrents of unwelcome thoughts are a military maneuver to draw one's attention to the head and away from a still heart. 00:53:23 susan: for the sake of the 10 good men God saved the city 00:54:22 Susanna Joy: Ok! 00:54:59 Susanna Joy: Mountains in Maine and prayerful company😊 00:55:08 Leilani Nemeroff: Agree about being trapped on a boat! 01:03:45 Susanna Joy: Crucible 01:12:44 Una: What chapter are we in? 01:13:10 Una: Thanks. I'm new 01:13:32 Nypaver Clan: Replying to "Thanks. I'm new" P. 230 01:13:44 Nypaver Clan: Replying to "Thanks. I'm new" #67 01:14:11 Nypaver Clan: Replying to "Thanks. I'm new" 😇 01:18:33 Nypaver Clan: God bless you on your Feast Day, Fr. Charbel! 🙏🏼 01:18:41 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂 01:19:29 Andrew Adams: Thank you, Father! 01:19:30 Jeff O.: Thank you Father, great to be with you all. 01:19:47 Cindy Moran: Thank you, Father, wonderful session. 01:19:49 Ann’s iPad: God Bless you Father 01:19:56 Leilani Nemeroff: Thank you! Happy name day! 01:20:03 Lilly (Toronto, CA): Book title? -
We picked up once again with the theme of “loving fasting.” The severity of the desert father’s practice of this discipline reveals that love. They discovered not only how essential the body is in the spiritual struggle to overcome attachment and the order of one’s desires towards God, but also that fasting brings a simplicity to one’s life.We begin to realize that we need much less than we imagine. We are often tempted to think that we need to pamper the body so as not to become sick or weak. It is the regular practice of fasting, we must keep in mind, that teaches us to see the intimate connection between eating and Christ. He is the bread of life and also he who gives us living water to drink in abundance. Therefore, we are to eat in a thoughtful and contemplative fashion, and to make an explicit connection between eating and the Eucharist. In fact fasting and the Eucharist shape the way that we eat. We must attend to the body, but we must also allow the body to serve us spiritually. We discipline ourselves not to punish the body as something evil but to allow everything to be directed toward what satisfies the deepest longing of the human heart.We are not promised happiness in this world, but rather the invincible, peace, joy, and love of the kingdom. Fasting is one element that helped the monks learn to hunger for what endures.---Text of chat during the group: 00:07:29 Bob Cihak, AZ: P. 127, # 8 00:43:17 Bob Cihak, AZ: Is the Elder hastening his own death excessively? 00:48:25 Susanna Joy: When I was a girl, we fasted on bread and water on Fridays, but after awhile stopped bc virtue is harder to practice ...making it pointless if no charity is left 00:48:53 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "When I was a girl, w..." with 😩 00:51:15 Susanna Joy: Right! The regular habit is important and the combination with prayer 00:51:57 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "Right! The regular h..." with 👍🏼 00:51:59 Maureen Cunningham: Holy Spirit will help 00:52:54 Forrest Cavalier: Is there a #16 that was skipped? 00:53:21 Cameron Jackson: Despondency. I can get how one can transcend Judas like despair. God is so good He can forgive all our sin but despair of life itself is another thing. I’m old, my money is running out, I can’t protect my family from ever present evil, etc. God doesn’t guarantee quality of life. How do you think this through? Life is suffering get used to it?! 00:56:40 Susanna Joy: Emerson 00:56:56 Susanna Joy: Most men lead lives of quiet desperation 00:58:33 David Fraley: I think that was Thoreau. 00:59:15 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "I think that was Tho..." with 👍🏼 01:01:28 Susanna Joy: Reacted to I think that was Tho... with "👍🏼" 01:08:10 Maureen Cunningham: How long did he live 01:14:54 Steve Yu: As a beginner, would one 16 hr fast a week be excessive? 01:15:00 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You , Blessing 01:15:31 Andrew Adams: Thank you, Father! 01:15:35 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂 01:15:35 Forrest Cavalier: Steve, start by skipping breakfast. 01:15:36 Lorraine Green: Thank you Father! 01:15:43 David Fraley: Thank you, Father.
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We continued our discussion of the fathers’ love for abstinence and fasting. While their feats seem amazing to us as well as how little food they needed to sustain themselves, the importance is what this love of these disciplines show us. They were not embraced simply as forms of discipline or endurance, but rather that which humbled the mind and the body. It is counterintuitive for all of those who live in times of great abundance to imagine that radically limiting both the amount and type of food that we eat could have such great significance for the spiritual life. At one point, the practices are compared to David slaying a lion in the protection of his flock. Fasting allows us to put our trust in God, and so becomes a weapon capable of slaying a far more fierce enemy. Similarly, David rushed out to do battle with Goliath with nothing but a sling and a few stones. Likewise, we rush out in battle, unencumbered by the things of this world caring with us the humble weapons of fasting and constant prayer.
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00:09:22 Bob Cihak, AZ: P. 124, #5 00:12:09 David Fraley: Hello Father! 00:22:14 Maureen Cunningham: What page 00:22:33 Lilly: Pg 125 #8 00:23:01 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You 00:32:04 Adam Paige: gyrovagues 00:38:26 Bob Cihak, AZ: Waste not, Want not, Skinny not. 00:44:24 Adam Paige: "Prayer, mercy and fasting: these three are one, and they give life to each other. Fasting is the soul of prayer, almsgiving is the lifeblood of fasting. Let no one try to separate them; they cannot be separated." - St. Peter Chrysologus Sermo 43 (Office of Readings for Tuesday of the 3rd week of Lent) 00:47:54 Forrest Cavalier: In Hypothesis 16 there are stories of extreme fasting, some of which must be miraculous, but not without other imitations that are attested. There are several saints who lived multiple years only consuming Eucharist, including St. Catherine of Sienna and St. Joseph of Cupertino. 01:03:59 Rebecca Thérèse: Yes 01:14:53 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂 01:14:57 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You 01:15:33 Andrew Adams: Thank you, Father! 01:15:55 Troy Amaro: Thank You Father. 01:15:56 David Fraley: Thank you, Father! 01:16:01 Jennifer Ahearn: 🙏 thank you. 01:16:08 Mark: thank you father -
The fathers often draw us along this mysterious path, the narrow path, that leads to the kingdom. They lead us, as it were, “where angels fear to tread.” They show us in an unvarnished fashion how the path to Godly love and virtue passes through affliction.
Yet, even that is too simplistic. It is the suffering heart, the heart crushed by prayer and the desire for God, that gives birth to virtue. One cannot have God sorrow and suffering if he does not first cherish the causes of these.
It is here that we must pray for the illumination that comes through faith. For we are told fear of God and the reproof of one’s conscience give birth to this godly sorrow. Abstinence and vigil keep company with a suffering heart and strengthen it to remain upon this path. Gluttony in all of its forms gives rise to the bad blood of the passions, and drives out the influx of the Spirit.
Thus, while we are young, we must learn to delight in what comes from the labor of compunction. If we do not, we will simply provoke confusion and callousness in the heart. We will be frustrated and lose our desire for God. Knowledge of God and the things of God do not reside in the hedonist; and the one who loves his body will not acquire the grace of God.
There is a plethora of ways that we idolize the body and its needs. It is for this reason that we are given multiple stories of elders crushing the demons by their asceticism. They starve the demons by not allowing them to feed upon the disordered and the unholy desires that often dwell within our hearts. If a man spends his life in fasting, then his adversaries, the passions and the demons flee, enfeebled, from his soul.
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00:37:43 Kate : I think sometimes we can hesitate in the ascetical life due to an exaggerated fear of suffering. I know I have felt this myself. But when we begin to engage in ascetical practices there is a sweetness and joy and peace in making our way towards God. It is not a sensible sweetness, but a deep interior sweetness. 00:38:51 Adam Paige: At church and Catholic home meetings, I'm constantly being offered food.. it's not always clear whether to accept hospitality or decline sometimes large amounts of food 00:44:25 Fr Marty, AZ, 480-292-3381: Besides wine, it sounds like that satiating our longing for God or restlessness to do God's will by overdoing anything: food, lust, entertainment, news, even complaining, can numb our sensitivity to not just the Holy Spirit's guidance, but even our ability to just be at rest with life we've been given and be content during prayer. 00:44:45 Adam Paige: Reacted to "Besides wine, it sou..." with ❤️🔥 00:48:56 Forrest Cavalier: καὶ αὐτὸς. ποὺ ἀγαπᾷ τὸ σῶπα του 00:49:06 Forrest Cavalier: Agape love 00:53:21 Forrest Cavalier: It is the greek original of "he who loves his own body" 00:55:36 Anthony: I went to Italy and got some prayer cards from Naples and Calabria. Some of them do not end prayer in "Amen" but "Cosi sià," which I take to mean "As He (the Lord) wills." 01:02:07 Fr Marty, AZ, 480-292-3381: Just as God wants us well fed in those things that keep us healthy, could it be that the devils have the strategy to starve us spiritually by glutting our appetites, and keep us from feeding on the Word of God or Body of Christ. It seems at times I've been starving on a full stomach. That even in great pleasure, I felt no love or joy.. 01:05:52 Jennifer Ahearn: There is a term I just learned ‘simping’, in romantic relationships a male who is over attentive and submissive to a woman’s desire. Only the blessings and God’s good pleasure to see his children fulfilled really satisfy the soul and strengthen the Sacrament. 01:06:14 Anthony: I'm preparing to move, and trying to follow St Charbel's advice, cutting out of my life books that I bought to be a somebody, a scholar, but really are so much extra weight - other than the one "jar" I should carry or am called to carry in life, for my vocation. 01:08:44 Ambrose Little, OP: Jim Gaffigan 01:08:51 Nypaver Clan: Jim Gaffigan? 01:09:12 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "Jim Gaffigan" with 👍🏼 01:14:08 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you 🙂Happy birthday🎂 01:14:14 Anthony: Auguri, Padre! 01:14:23 Adam Paige: Ad multos annos ! 01:14:23 Steve Yu: Happy Birthday, Father! 01:14:24 Nypaver Clan: Birthday blessings 01:15:03 Andrew Adams: Thank you, Father! Happy Birthday! 01:15:23 Troy Amaro: Thank You Father. Happy Birthday. -
St. John Climacus once again gives us powerful images to help us understand the meaning of stillness and how it is to be protected. One such image is that of an eyelash that falls into the eye and creates irritation. The enemy of stillness is agitation; we are often driven to distraction by a concern for our physical and emotional well-being. Fear can create within us a kind of hypochondria. We become hypersensitive to our health and well-being. Unchecked, this fear can be become so excessive that it creates a massive neurosis that prevent us from trusting in the providence and promises of God. We no longer feel ourselves being drawn along by love or seeking to remain in that stillness in order that we might know intimacy with the beloved. Rather, we desperately push forward, driving ourselves to the point of exhaustion, seeking a worldly peace and security.
However, in this we deprive ourselves of a childlike sense of wonder at the life and love the God has made possible for us. Therefore, as Christ tells us, we may not experience the kingdom even though it dwells within us because we are focused upon controlling our life and shaping our own identity. Once the simplicity is lost, it can lead to a kind of quiet desperation. Our hearts long for love from others and from God, but in the complexity that we have created and the thick hedge of responsibilities with which we surround ourselves, we lose faith and hope that such freedom can ever be ours again.
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00:03:18 Bob Cihak, AZ: P. 228, #48 00:26:14 Anthony: Another issue is for one in involuntary solitude, having a desire for companionship goes out to fill the void 00:27:33 Anthony: This is a reason for excessive social media or tv or radio, and God's gifts are dissipated 00:30:57 Bob Cihak, AZ: The stutters are because you're reflecting as we go. 00:36:19 Anthony: Not to analyze the thoughts. I've been surprised by horrid thoughts, and thereafter been so concerned about them, that concern brings them to mind. 00:47:15 Kate : It’s almost as if we don’t trust the grace of God. We don’t trust the Providence of God and His Presence within the soul. 00:55:09 Susanna Joy: So true...believing the promise of God's everlasting goodness is key. Elizabeth said to Mary: Blessed is she who believed that the promise made by God would be fulfilled.And it is true for all of us. 00:57:32 Lilly (Toronto, CA): Covid was a curse *and* a blessing, it brought Fr Abernethy to my life...I am so grateful 🙏 00:57:51 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "Covid was a curse *a..." with 🥰 00:57:57 Lilly (Toronto, CA): Reacted to "Covid was a curse *a…" with 🥰 00:58:40 Kevin Burke: Reacted to "Covid was a curse *a…" with 👌 01:03:55 Susanna Joy: Yes...wonder! 01:04:13 Greg C: It was a blessing to me as I began to read scripture much more deeply, and understand the Divine Liturgy with so much more love. 01:04:26 Susanna Joy: Reacted to It was a blessing to... with "❤️" 01:04:36 Susanna Joy: Reacted to Covid was a curse *a... with "❤️" 01:04:46 Greg C: Reacted to "Covid was a curse *a..." with ❤️ 01:16:49 Susanna Joy: Jesus did say, unless you become like little children you cannot enter the kingdom of God. 01:19:21 Susanna Joy: Trust and Wonder.💗 01:19:58 Cindy Moran: Thank you Father! 01:20:08 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂 01:21:08 Cindy Moran: My birthday is July 8...I will be thinking of you! 01:21:18 Sharon: Thank you! -
What is it that we are hungry for in this world? So many of the writings of the fathers can be reduced to this very question. What is the deepest desire of our hearts? What have we been created for and what satisfies the sense of incompleteness or the strange feeling of nostalgia within us?
Because we have been created for God and find in Him our truest identity, we are going to experience ourselves as strangers in a strange world. We are made like everyone else and experience internal and external pressures to pursue what the world deems legitimate and of value. In the process, any thought of the future or the remembrance of God slips out of our minds. We become slaves not only to our bellies but to everything that we consume in an unthinking fashion.
Abstemiousness and simplicity are not about lack but rather fullness. We must attend to the very real needs of the flesh but only as much as is required - and sometimes less. When we lose sight of God, our internal world is driven by anxiety and fear. We seek for security and to protect ourselves from want. What we find in the fathers, however, is not a starving of themselves, but rather the starving of the demons and what they nourish themselves upon. We engage in the ascetic life in order not to keep feeding the appetites and the passions that tie us to the world.
This is no easy task. Rationalization and the illusion of joy and freedom keep us moving forward. However, these things (very much like rights and happiness) are very fragile. We think they are the norm but this is perhaps the great deception of our times.
Our life has been given to us for repentance and we must not waste it. Life is a relationship; a constant turning towards God and who is constantly seeking us. Let us not grieve the Holy Spirit by seeking to quench our thirst for life and hunger for love other than in God.
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Text of chat during the group:
00:11:09 Bob Cihak, AZ: P. 118, para 2 00:17:20 Bob Cihak, AZ: Oops. P. 119, para 2 00:31:47 Cindy Moran: Usury 00:34:45 Cindy Moran: No cash allowed at Pirate game concessions 01:08:03 Jennifer Ahearn: Constant prayer, unceasing. There is a Freedom for Excellence between deficit and excess 01:08:47 Jennifer Ahearn: FOMO😃 01:09:26 Jennifer Ahearn: Stay in the rhythm of The Church 01:10:56 Jennifer Ahearn: St. Philip Nero ‘if it is not leading to Christ, cut it out’. Holy leisure is important. 01:11:24 Janine: You are 100% correct 01:12:01 Jennifer Ahearn: Neri 01:12:09 Paul G.: WE experience your teachings and get ntold blessings Father 01:12:24 Paul G.: Untold 01:12:39 Susanna Joy: Reacted to WE experience your t... with "❤️" 01:14:55 Lori Hatala: the things you share are shared with others and create a ripple effect of gratitude and thought provoking prayer. 01:15:00 Jennifer Ahearn: Constant prayer, unceasing. There is a Freedom for Excellence between deficit and excess 01:16:40 Jennifer Ahearn: St Louis DeMontfort Consecration five years in a row in October changed my interior life and mind. 01:18:31 Forrest Cavalier: For me, reading https://archive.org/details/tolovefasting/ has been very eye opening that the practices noted in Evergetinos are not fantastical. He does write that those who live with others will need more nourishment. Monks less, Hermits even less. 01:19:51 Jennifer Ahearn: Yes! Thank you so much, Fr. Charbel. It is a constant reality ♥️🙏 01:20:13 Jennifer Ahearn: It is exciting ♥️🙏 01:21:14 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂 01:21:16 Cameron Jackson: Thank you. 01:21:17 Andrew Adams: Thank you, Father! 01:21:26 Kevin Burke: Thank You Father! 01:21:34 Troy Amaro: Thank You Father. 01:22:22 Lorraine Green: !Thank you Fr., good luck with the move -
There is a beautiful movement created in the heart by St. John’s writing; it is almost a dance. We move back-and-forth with St. John by simultaneously reflecting upon the beauty of silence and stillness and the intimacy that we experience with God through it - while also being shown what the loss of the silence does to us.
The silence of which St. John speaks is not just the absence of noise, but rather the presence of a love and life that transcends our understanding. It can only be experienced. Therefore, St. John holds out before us the intimacy for which our our hearts long and that can be found in the silence while also warning us of the dangers and the pitfalls that allow this great gift to slip through our fingers.
The more we become attentive to the interior life, the more we realize how easily we can be distracted; how our thoughts and feelings can be manipulated either by our own appetites or by demonic provocation. It has been said that “Hurry destroys both poets and Saints“. The frenetic activity that surrounds us agitates and fragments the mind and the heart. To live in such a state for a long period of time dulls one’s sensibilities not only to the finer things of life but to God himself.
Thus, the preliminary task John tell us is disengagement from all affairs, whether reasonable or senseless. Both can be equally distracting to us. In fact, it’s often easier for us to recognize the inane things to which we direct our attention then it is to see how the responsibilities and demands that we have set for ourselves places us on a never-ending treadmill of activity of mind and body.
And so let us simplify our lives. It does not take long for us to realize the gains of doing so. We begin to taste, perhaps for the first time, the sweetness of those things that endure.
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Text of chat during the group:
00:04:54 Bob Cihak, AZ: P. 227, #41 00:37:54 David: OBS software? 00:40:41 Leilani Nemeroff: True, I stopped watching tv. It’s amazing how annoying it is when you’re exposed. 00:41:22 Cindy Moran: Most major movie trailers will have a cut every second. 00:43:15 Callie Eisenbrandt: Father- sometimes I feel guilty turning to the Jesus prayer when I'm feeling distracted or off track, like my mind isn't where it needs to be to be saying the prayer 00:44:16 Leilani Nemeroff: Yes, pronounced correctly! 00:44:26 Cindy Moran: The term for what you describe is called "jump cut" 00:44:41 Dave Warner (AL): Reacted to "The term for what yo..." with 👍 00:45:28 David: Something interest on OBS. We do educational conferences and if more than 15 seconds of silence passes we loose 15-20% of attendants. AHAD apparently has become a norm 00:45:32 Rebecca Thérèse: People are advised that their film clips should be no longer than 3 seconds otherwise people lose attention 00:50:11 Anthony: There's an Orthodox priest, Fr. Barnabas Powell, who says "you are not your thoughts." That really good when thoughts waylay a person like hoodlums. 00:50:38 David: I was taught to see it as waves coming in from the shore for the Jesus Prayer which really helps. It does have a soothing repetition that is similiar. 00:55:35 Maureen Cunningham: Human doing not being 00:55:37 Lori Hatala: Sometimes when saying the Jesus prayer I must say it slowly and loudly when having distracting thoughts until they subside. 00:57:31 Dave Warner (AL): Silence is also the domain of software programmers. 00:58:23 Anthony: In Lercara Friddi, Sicily the town was so silent in siesta that I could hear the pigeons cooing. 01:05:34 Jennifer Ahearn: Ineffable ‘internal journey’ 01:07:34 David: God calls us by name the devil by our sin. We are not defined by our faults 01:08:43 Cindy Moran: I wrote in my Bible when I was 15 yrs old: "Even in my biggest mistake, I am not a mistake" 01:12:28 Kate : I find that the time I am most vulnerable to distraction is after receiving Holy Communion. Sometimes the Jesus Prayer is the only thing I can grasp hold of, so as not to be swept away by the distractions. It is quite a battle sometimes. 01:18:59 Rebecca Thérèse: Sometimes the parking lot is more conducive to prayer after communion than the church 01:19:09 Jacqulyn: Wow! 15 minutes... bring it on! :-) 01:19:23 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You Blessing keep you in prayer Amen 01:19:37 Andrew Adams: Thank you, Father! 01:19:38 Jennifer Ahearn: Thank you 01:19:38 Cindy Moran: Thank you Father very inspiring session! 01:19:41 David: Thank you father! 01:19:51 Leilani Nemeroff: Thank you 01:19:51 Dave Warner (AL): Thank you Father - what a Blessing! 01:19:54 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂 -
Humility and affliction: Two words that often evoke within us intense fear and anxiety. We are formed by a kind of pathological self-love. The fathers understood our focus upon worldly things as a need to create a sense of security and identity. We desperately want to protect ourselves from hardship and from pain and so we surround ourselves as much as we can to distract ourselves from the reality of death or the presence of suffering in our lives and in the world. It is not only external realities the drive us to this but also vainglory. In some sense our desperate need to protect our dignity and self-esteem can be greater than our bodily desires. We will fight desperately to keep ourselves from the experience of humiliation or to hold on to a position of emotional power in relationships. However, in all these things, we sacrifice true freedom, joy, and peace. For when we embrace our identity in Christ as sons and daughters of God, when we let go of our attachment to the things of this world, then we begin to experience a kind of invincible freedom and joy. He who belongs to Christ has all; and whatever he loses within this world for the sake of Christ will be returned a hundredfold. What the fathers are trying to teach us is that while we suffer within this world we never suffer alone or in isolation. Our communion with Christ means that he is always present to us and that the crosses we bear only draw closer to him. The love of the kingdom is cruciform. Thus, to allow ourselves to be broken and poured out is to manifest that love in its perfection --- Text of chat during the group: 00:08:55 Bob Cihak, AZ: P. 115, "F" 00:10:08 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Good evening everyone 00:11:53 Jessica Michel: Hello Father Charbel. Good Morning 01:10:05 Forrest Cavalier: I have read to 74 of “To Love Fasting” the point is very clear that gradually accepting discipline makes it easier to accept harder discipline. This can take years. 01:10:05 Lorraine Green: Thank you Father! 01:10:23 Forrest Cavalier: I meant page 74 01:14:40 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You 01:15:10 Susanna Joy: Thank you, Father Charbel. 01:15:20 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂 01:15:27 Erick Chastain: thank you father charbel 01:15:27 Jessica Michel: Thank you 01:15:31 Cameron Jackson: Thank you. 01:15:33 Troy Amaro: Thank You Father.
- Visa fler
