Have you ever thought that everything that touches you touches Me as well? For that which touches you touches the apple of My eye.
You are dear in my eyes, precious, and I have loved you; therefore it is a particular pleasure for Me to educate you.
When temptations arise against you, and the enemy comes like a river, I want you to know , This was from Me.
Your weakness needs My strength, and your safety comes from giving Me the opportunity to fight for you. If you find yourself in difficult circumstances, among people who do not understand you, who do not take what you like into consideration, who alienate you—This was from Me.
I am God, Who arranges circumstances. It was no accident that you find yourself in the place where you are; this is the place I have appointed for you. Did you not ask that I teach you humility? Well, then, look: I have placed you in precisely that place, in that school, where this lesson is learned. Your surroundings and those who live with you are only fulfilling My will. If you find yourself in financial difficulty, if you find it hard to make ends meet—This was from Me.
For I have your material means at my disposal. I want you to call unto me, for you to be dependant upon Me. My reserves are inexhaustible. I want you to be confirmed in fidelity to Me and to My promises. May it not be said to you in your need: You did not believe in the Lord your God.
Are you in a night of suffering? Are you separated from your loved ones and those close to your heart? This was from Me.
I am the Man of suffering, Who has tasted affliction. I have allowed this so that you would turn to Me, so that in Me you would find eternal comfort. If you have been let down by your friend, to someone to whom you opened your heart—This was from Me.
I allowed this disappointment to touch you so that you would know that your best friend is the Lord. I want you to bring everything to Me and to speak to Me.
Has someone slandered you? Give this to me, and bring your soul closer to Me, your Refuge, to hide from the contradiction of the nations. I shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your judgment as the noonday. If your plans have been destroyed, if you are downtrodden in soul and tired—This was from Me.
You made plans, and brought them to Me, so that I would bless them. But I want you to leave Me in charge of the circumstances of your life, and then responsibility for everything will be Mine, for this is too difficult for you; by yourself you can not manage them, for you are only an instrument, and not the actor. If unanticipated problems of life have visited you, and if despondency has seized your heart, then know—This was from Me.
For I want your heart and your soul to be always aflame before My eyes; to conquer faint-heartedness of the soul in My name. If you do not hear from your dear ones and friends for a long time, and in your faint-heartedness fall into despondency and grumbling, know—This was from Me.
By this anguish in your spirit, I test the strength of your faith in the surity of My promise and the strength of your boldness in prayer for these dear ones of yours. Was it not you who entrusted them to the Protection of My All-Pure Mother? Was it not you who once entrusted their care to My providential love? If serious illness, either temporary or incurable, has visited you, and has confined to your bed, then know—This was from Me.
For I want you to know Me even more deeply in you bodily infirmities, so that you would not grumble over this trial sent to you, that you would not try to penetrate My plans through different means for the salvation of peoples souls, but that you would uncomplainingly and submissively bow you neck under My goodness towards you. If you have dreamed of performing some special deed for Me, and instead haven fallen onto a bed of sickness and weakness—This was from Me.
Then you would have been immersed in your activities, and I would not have been able to attract your thoughts to Me, for I want to teach you My deepest thoughts and lessons, so that you would be in My service. I want to teach you to recognize that you are nothing. Some of My best co-workers are those who have been cut off from vital activity, that they would learn to wield the weapon of unceasing prayer.
Have you unexpectedly been called to occupy a difficult and responsible position? Go, place it on Me. I entrust these difficulties to you so that the Lord God would bless you for this in all your deeds, on all your paths, in everything that will done by your hands. On this day I put into your hands a vessel of holy oil. Use it generously, My children! Every difficulty that arises, every word that insults you, every obstacle to your work that could elicit in you a feeling of annoyance, every revelation of your weakness and inability, shall be anointed with this oil.
Remember that every obstacle is a Divine instruction. Every sting will be dulled when you learn to see Me in everything that touches you. Therefore place the word I have declared to you today in your heart: This was from Me. For this is not an empty matter for you—this is your life.
Translator’s note: In as much as the above text was distributed for from hand-to-hand in samizdat form for several decades, printed versions include competing explanations of its authorship and origin. The most common attribution is to St Seraphim of Viritsa, who was said to have written it in 1937 to a certain bishop, his spiritual son, who was at the time in prison. It is almost entirely certain, however, that the author is in fact Metropolitan Manuel (Lemeshevsky) of Kuibyshev and Syzran (1884-1968). It is known that St Seraphim of Viritsa and Metropolitan Manuel were acquainted, and therefore it could be speculated that this meditation represents the latter’s record of the saint’s spiritual teaching.
Translated from the original Russian by Hierodeacon Samuel, Monastery of St Job of Pochaev, Munich, Germany, for the Orthodox Christian Information Center. Posted on 3/6/2008.
http://tokandylaki.blogspot.ca/
First, search around and learn who is the most experienced Spiritual Father, because Basil the Great says, just as people do not show their maladies and bodily wounds to just any physician, but to experienced physicians who know how to treat them, so also sins must be revealed, not to just anyone, but to those who are able to heal them: “The same fashion should be observed in the confession of sins as in the showing of bodily diseases. As then men reveal the diseases of the body not to all or to chance corners but to those who are experienced in their treatment; so also the confession of sins ought to take place in the presence of those who are able to treat them, as it is written: ‘Ye that are strong bear the infirmities of the weak’ (Rom. 15:1) – that is, take them away by your care.”
St Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain
http://agapienxristou.blogspot.ca/2014/07/searching-for-your-spiritual-doctor-st.html
The soul as an Arrow" is a theme explored by St.Gregory of Nyssa in his Commentary on the Song of Songs.He states that the bride(who is a figure of the soul) is both struck by the arrow of God's love,and at the same time becomes herself an arrow propelled toward God:The bride praises the bowman for his good marksmanship because he hits her with his arrow.The bride says"I am wounded with love"(Song2.5)
These words indicate that the bridegroom's arrows have penetrated the depths of her heart.The Archer of these arrows is love(cf. Jn 4.8),who sends his own "chosen arrow'(cf Isa 49.2) the Only-begotten Son,to those who are saved,dipping the triple-pointed tip of the arrow in the Spirit of Life.The tip of the arrow is faith, and by it God introduces the archer into the heart along with the arrow.
As the Lord says"I and the Father are one,we will come and make our home with him"(Jn 14-23).
O beautiful wound and sweet blow by which life penetrates within!.The arrow's penetration opens up,as it were,a door and entrance for love.As soon as the bride receives the arrow of love,the imagery shifts from archery to nuptial delight...Earlier we said that the bride was the target;she now sees herself as the arrow in the bowman's hands....God treats the purified soul as a bride and as an arrow aimed at a good target.
Saint Gregory of Nyssa
The devil does not hunt after those who are lost; he hunts after those who are aware, those who are close to God. He takes from them trust in God and begins to afflict them with self-assurance, logic, thinking, criticism. Therefore we should not trust our logical minds. Never believe your thoughts.
St. Paisios
a talk given by St. Nektarios of Pentapolis to a group of high- school students
Education without self-knowledge, devoid of the axiom “know thyself,” can neither be considered a complete education nor regarded as suitable schooling.
Education lacking the all-important and fundamental lesson of knowledge of man
himself, and, consequently, education without reverence for God, righteousness, and truth,
ignorant of the matters related to God and man, and the reasons for their existence, is a partial knowledge void of correct instruction. Ignorance of ourselves necessarily entails ignorance of God and His divine attributes, it leads to the denial of God Himself, His relationship with the creation in general and with man specifically. Such ignorance will create a scientist who audaciously transgresses the laws of God and men, and it
will strip him of the splendor of ethical virtue and modest moral conduct. Thus, a person who has acquired such scientific knowledge ends up becoming more harmful rather than helpful to
society.
The wise Plato, denouncing such education states, “All education that is separated from righteousness and virtue becomes not wisdom but cunningness.”
Aristotle says that education devoid of proper instruction is an unhealthy body, which is harmed increasingly the more it is fed, for malignant growths thrive in such conditions. The arts and sciences—without prudence and the remaining
ensemble of virtues—do not produce wise scientists, or truthful scholars, or useful citizens, or healthy members of society.
Diagoras from Melos, the student of Democritus, was wise; however, he was the legendary atheist of ancient times. He was condemned to death on
account of his godlessness and impiety, but managed to escape secretly and save himself.
Democritus from Abdera, the teacher of narcissism, was also wise; but he was an atheist and a complete materialist.
Aristippus from Cyrene was a philosopher; however, he was a teacher of hedonism, preaching that sensual pleasure is man's ultimate purpose.
Theodorus of Cyrene was wise as well; but he was a herald of atheism and promoter of carnal pleasure.
Pyrrho and his pupil Timon, the fathers of skepticism and teachers of rationalism and discernment, were also wise; however, they would use contradictory arguments to distort and pervert the truth.
Epicurus was also a philosopher; but he was imprudent, an atheist, and a teacher of sensual pleasure, professing that happiness is hedonism and pleasure.
Protagoras, Gorgias, Euthydimus, Xeniadis from Corinth, Thrasymachus, Callicles, Hippias, Prodicus, and Polus were all wise, learned orators
and eloquent deliberators; however, they were sophists who perverted the truth, and who
undermined the foundations of morality, religion, and faith. They came close to utterly overturning
the spiritual convictions and social principles of humanity, and they almost paralyzed ethics and virtue.
For they professed that all things are a falsehood, that everything comes into existence from non
-existence, that everything that is susceptible to
decomposition dissolves to non-existence again,
and that man himself is the standard of all truth and knowledge:
“Whatever each person believes is what is actually real.
What ever seems good to each person is what is in
fact stable and unchanging” (Protagoras).
Therefore, when the various branches of science
were lacking correct instruction and devoid of
the maxim “know thyself,” they were more harmful than beneficial.
http://www.stnektariosmonastery.org/
