Fighting the Passions

Today I thought I would offer you a few quotations from Theophan the Recluse (1815-94), a Russian priest and monk and eventually hermit. I’ve quoted him in the past and I discovered his writings in a book called The Art of Prayer which is an anthology of writings of Russian mystics from the 19^th century.

Today’s selections are about anger and the passions and the use of the Jesus Prayer to help dispel them.

On the face of it, there is nothing at all in the world over which it is worth losing our temper; for what is more valuable than the soul and its peace? This peace is destroyed by anger.

Deep in the heart we cling to our right to judge and punish others for their sins, instead of ourselves. That is all there is to it. If a man saw himself as a sinner, being vividly conscious of all the consequences of sin, anger would be far from him.

We recognize that God permits troubles to come in order to try us and thus demonstrate the strength of our virtue; and this helps us to preserve our temper in such cases, for we believe that God Himself is watching us at such a moment.

. . . examine our thoughts and feelings, so as to discover which way they tend: towards pleasing God or towards pleasing ourselves. It is quite easy to do this. All you have to do is to watch yourself.

Self-gratification is the cause of all evils. If you examine all the bad things that you have done, you will see that in each case they originated from pandering to yourself.

As a general rule, decide whether a thing is permissible by the effect it produces within.  Permit yourself what is constructive, but never what is destructive.

. . . we must direct all our attention to this warfare against the passions—and that is constant remembrance of the Lord and prayer to Him. Acquiring the habit of the Jesus Prayer is the external aspect of this weapon. In its inner reality, it may best be described as ‘being always at home’.

We must stay always in our heart with the Lord, calling to Him; and this banishes everything evil.

There is no need . . . to be disturbed and perplexed when passions rise up from our fallen nature or when they are spurred on by evil spirits. Since passions are tamed by prayer, when they arise we should practice the Jesus Prayer inwardly, very quietly and without haste: little by little this will allay the upsurging passions.

When you talk to someone, above all refrain from upsetting him by aggressiveness, or by expressing an opinion directly opposed to his, from an obvious desire to have your own way. It is the enemy who inspires you to do this, in order to start an argument and by this means to bring about discord. Avoid equally speaking of spiritual things in order to display your own wisdom. This too is a suggestion of the enemy, and if you follow it you will be laughed at by men and will gain God’s displeasure. 

God bless you.

Replacing vain and empty thoughts

“Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” (John 6:27)

It occurred to me recently that a lot of the thoughts I think—indeed, most of the thoughts I think—are nothing more than wasted words amounting to nothing, leading nowhere and accomplishing no purpose at all. In fact, most of them are in the service of things that perish, things that feed my ego (which is itself an illusion) and things that in the grand scheme of things are absolutely not important and have no value in and of themselves. Have you found the same thing to be true?

I also discovered during these first few days of the Easter season, that there are thoughts I can think that actually do endure for eternal life. Most of them are simple phrases and verses that come to mind if I set my sights on the things of God, on the things that matter. I’ll give you a short list here:

·         O God come to my assistance; O Lord, make haste to help me.

·         Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

·         Hail Mary, full of grace.

·         Guide me, Lord.

·         Help me, Lord: I can’t but You can.

·         Jesus, Mary and Joseph, pray for me.

·         Christ is risen, alleluia!

·         He has come to set me free.

The first of them is the verse we use to begin every hour of prayer in the monastery. It is also a favorite mantra of St. John Cassian. Of all of them, however, my favorite is the second one, the one known as the Jesus Prayer.

If you take any one of these phrases, or another one of your own choosing, and repeat it to yourself during your time of meditation, or during short moments of prayer, what you will discover is that once you’ve said it enough, it will begin to come to your mind automatically and lead you away from vain and useless thoughts to a special place of prayer where God is with you intensely and you are in tune with Him and you will know that He is risen and He is guiding you “into the way that leads to peace.”

Peace be with you this day.

Hope in God alone

Advice from the Russian Orthodox mystics is probably something you heard or read before, but if you are like me, you need constant reminders and encouragement. So I offer you little summary of the writings of Theophan the Recluse (1815-1894).*

What is essential is that you lay all your hope in God. When it comes to the spiritual life, you cannot obtain anything on your own, and all your efforts and good works will not help you reach your goal of union with God unless and until He grants it to you. This takes so much pressure off of us. All we need do is pray from the heart, ask for what we seek, and continue praying until God grants it to us. The Orthodox Fathers particularly recommend the Jesus Prayer as a constant mantra; Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me.

It is possible to say the prayer so often that eventually it arises in your heart almost automatically, but it is important that we not say it mechanically and without meaning. Theophan quotes the wonderful lines from Psalm 37:3-4, If you trust in the Lord and do good, then you will live in the land and be secure. If you find your delight in the Lord, he will grand your heart’s desire.

He speaks of the acquisition of virtue in the same way. A man who suffers from the vice of anger, he says, may by his own efforts acquire some control over it. “. . . how far will he get by his own efforts? No farther than outward silence during bouts of anger, with only such quelling of the rage itself as self-control can afford him. He can never himself attain the complete extinction of his anger and the establishment of meekness in his heart. This only happens when grace invades the heart and itself places meekness there. **

The same is true of every virtue and spiritual quality. We must seek earnestly, but realize that our own efforts to bear fruit will come to nothing. We must put all our trust in the Lord who will give us what we desire so earnestly.

I don’t know about you but I find this very encouraging and consoling at the same time. There is no reason to get impatient or even hate myself because of a particular weakness I may be trying to avoid. I can’t get it by my own efforts only. Now that doesn’t mean that I should not bother to try. I must keep trying, knowing that the ultimate victory will come when the Lord grants it to me.

In a way, the pressure is off about this and about so many other things.

Undoubtedly you will hear more from Theophan in the days to come as I continue to may my way through his writings.

May the blessings of the risen Lord descend upon you and keep you in all your ways.

*I discovered his writings in a book named The Art of Prayer: an orthodox anthology compiled by Igumen Chariton of Valamo.

** p. 112

He is with me and in me.

The Jesus Prayer:

 “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God,

have mercy on me, a sinner.

I often meditate and, as was the ancient custom, use the Jesus Prayer as a mantra, inhaling on the first line and exhaling on the second. One of the nice things about praying this way is that the Jesus Prayer can be recited silently in the heart many times during the day, especially times when there aren’t any particular demands being put upon us. Use it when you are waiting in line, or whenever you remember it during your work day. I also like to use it after receiving communion, at the very moment when I have taken Christ into my body.

The more we say it as in meditation, for example, the more naturally the prayer forms in our minds or on our lips. Use it in the elevator or in the doctor’s office, use it when beginning an important piece of work, use it in moments of silence during Mass (if you are fortunate enough to worship where there is esteem for silence). Use it in the shower or in bed before you fall asleep. Use it when waiting for the Windows Updates to be installed (instead of growing impatient and annoyed). Use it anywhere and anytime you think of it.

When I say the prayer, especially during meditation, I used to think that Jesus was “up there” in the heavens while I’m down here on earth. I “looked up” to say “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God,” and then “looked down” to say “have mercy on me a sinner.” And I’ve been doing this for years.

Recently, however, I had a revelation. There is no need to look up and then down. Jesus Christ is with me and in me and his grace and mercy flows throughout my entire being—body, spirit and soul.

All is Jesus. So now when I say the prayer, I focus on my own heart and gut and remember that Jesus is alive and at work in me even during those times when I am not aware of it. And in this way, the Jesus Prayer becomes a full-body prayer, and I am led to contemplate the precious mystery which is given to us at all times as gift, as presence, as reality and as mystery. It no longer a question of him up there and me down here. Now it is an expression of divine union, every time I utter or think the words of the prayer.

Give it a try, will you?

God bless you.

Healing the past

Spiritual growth can sometimes be the cause of great but worthwhile pain. The other day a friend was telling me how he remembered something he had done years ago before his spiritual awakening, and how he had never realized until now just how terrible a thing it had been and how it has caused pain for others. His new realization really hurt.

I recalled similar experiences I have had where the insight of the present opened my eyes to see with horror just how serious the sins of the past had been, but how at the time I was oblivious to the wrong I was doing.

Again, a painful experience—but at the same time a healing experience, because it gives new depth of meaning to the Jesus Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner. The pain of the realization is actually a gift of grace from the Lord. Healing is often painful.

What more could I say about this to my friend, I wondered. Well, at Lauds this morning I received an answer as we prayed a passage from Isaiah 38. I’m not sure where this particular translation came from, but it is the one we have in our office books and it was just what I needed and so another gift of grace from the Lord. Here’s the passage:

For you, Lord, my heart will live,

You gave me back my spirit;

You cured me, kept me alive,

Changed my sickness into health.

And you have held back my life

From the pit of doom.

You have cast far from your sight

Every one of my sins. (Isaiah 38: 16-17)

There is a final verse of the passage which has particular meaning for monks:

O Lord, come to our rescue

And we shall sing psalms

All the days of our life

In the house of the Lord.

I thank God that he has set me in a place where this verse is a daily reality.

God bless you.