The heart can change several
times in one moment
The heart can change several times in one moment
-to good or evil,
to faith or unbelief,
to simplicity or cunning,
to love or hatred,
to benevolence or envy,
to generosity or avarice,
O, what inconstancy!
O, how many dangers!
O, how sober and watchful we must be!
There are two ways to fly,
perhaps not
mutually exclusive.
One is to fall
and simply miss the ground,
though this is hard to do
deliberately.
The other is to forgive
which is embracing the ground
actually
and reversing the fall.
- From Fr. Jonathan’s blog
How long will I so fool the world, though I am like the devils,
with my false piety, fake virtue and hypocrisy?
When the world regards me highly, I rejoice and boast,
but when they criticise me, even kindly, I am sad, and mope.
Whomever of you knows me, I exhort you to feel piety,
and when reminded of me, weep for my iniguity.
Beg our God that someday He enlightenment will send me;
and by your prayers, my brethren, I hope that He will save me,
and from my somber wickedness and evil, He will free me.
-A small excerpt from “Confession of the Blind Woman” of Gerondissa (Abbess) Xeni Of Aegina, Greece (1867-1923)
What is this awesome mystery
that is taking place within me?
I can find no words to express it;
my poor hand is unable to capture it
in describing the praise and glory that belong
to the One who is above all praise,
and who transcends every word…
My intellect sees what has happened,
but it cannot explain it.
It can see, and wishes to explain,
but can find no word that will suffice;
for what it sees is invisible and entirely formless,
simple, completely uncompounded,
unbounded in its awesome greatness.
What I have seen is the totality recapitulated as one,
received not in essence but by participation.
Just as if you lit a flame from a flame,
it is the whole flame you receive.
by Symeon the New Theologian
By the light which shone upon mount Tabor
That those yet in darkness lost could be found
Of your own will but in obedience
–to the Father; you suffered, crucified
Show us that happy way, that graceful light
Brothers let us attract God without guile
Your glory still enlightens your disciples
–as far as we can bear that vision
We have learned to cast out our sinful eyes
And better blind in the kingdom, we see
For the greatest of the least little child
With a curse to them that keep him from you
That great weight as you bore voluntary
Should be a chain firm ’round their cruel necks
Show us the golden way now uncovered
It is easy for the lowly of heart
We will then become as children so that
We might sit in the midst of all the saints
Even in front of him who is the Christ
The very Radiance of the Father
“Come young athlete of God, keep close to me, keep full of zeal,
bend low your neck in complete obedience,
humble yourself, dead to your own will,
telling all the thoughts of heart and mind
you are already in the arena,
have no fear of desert, have no fear of the pillar,
nor of any other order in the race that is before us, the race to know God
you are the first according to Holy Scripture;
you follow the path of the first martyrs”
Who’s lights burn bright into the night, but those with oil?
Linger still the wait of blows, three lamps full endured.
Fruit of blooded ground born of Wonder-working George.
Now in four day procession loft his banner high.
Christopher suffered of torments;
Theonas gloried Christ as God;
Anthony with his brothers burned;
Still three lamps full light up the night.
Now brothers let us prepare for the Bridegroom comes!
“Let no one bewail his poverty,
For the universal Kingdom has been revealed.
Let no one weep for his iniquities,
For pardon has shown forth from the grave.
Let no one fear death,
For the Saviour’s death has set us free.
He that was held prisoner of it has annihilated it.
By descending into Hell, He made Hell captive.
He embittered it when it tasted of His flesh.
And Isaiah, foretelling this, did cry:
Hell, said he, was embittered
When it encountered Thee in the lower regions.
It was embittered, for it was abolished.
It was embittered, for it was mocked.
It was embittered, for it was slain.
It was embittered, for it was overthrown.
It was embittered, for it was fettered in chains.
It took a body, and met God face to face.
It took earth, and encountered Heaven.
It took that which was seen, and fell upon the unseen.
O Death, where is thy sting?
O Hell, where is thy victory? “
Oh, God, you spend so much blue so that we cannot see you!
-Odysseas Elytis
…Maybe because, we could’n stand to see Your face…Maybe..
“Whoever wants to become a Christian must first become a poet. That’s what it is! You must suffer. You must love and suffer—suffer for the one you love. Love makes effort for the loved one. She runs all through the night; she stays awake; she stains her feet with blood in order to meet her beloved. She makes sacrifices and disregards all impediments, threats, and difficulties for the sake of the loved one. Love towards Christ is something even higher, infinitely higher.
And when we say ‘love’, we don’t mean the virtues that we will acquire, but the heart that is pervaded by love towards Christ and others. We need to turn everything in this direction. Do we see a mother with her child in her arms and bending to give the child a kiss, her heart overflowing with emotion? Do we notice how her face lights up as she holds her little angel? These things do not escape a person with love of God. He sees them and is impressed by them and he says, ‘If only I had those emotions towards my God, towards my Holy Lady and our saints!’ Look, that’s how we must love Christ our God. You desire it, you want it, and with the grace of God you acquire it.”
![[252/365] Torn and caught up](http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5286/5332042643_7da1a3cd5b.jpg)
…the image of the Lord had been replaced by a mirror.
Jorge Luis Borges
