By Fr. Andrew Malakhovsky
The Lord is
waiting for our spiritual sacrifices. He is waiting for us to bring our gifts,
such as a humble heart, meekness, kindness, the love towards each other. The
lord gives them to us and is waiting for us to embody them in our lives, to
find the image of God in ourselves. This is our main goal. What concerns all
the rest we need to do in our lives – “render unto Caesar the things that are
Caesar's”.
***
While on earth,
we are learning to live. And the Lord Himself is our Teacher. Merciful and kind.
He never puts us bad marks, but tries instead to rank us as high as possible.
And He often says, “Well, just learn a bit more, just try one more time”.
***
We are tested in life situations. I would say, we have a theory, which is the God’s word. But our practice starts when we begin to communicate with other people. (After the Divine liturgy in the boarding home for children with special needs on December 16, 2016)
By Fr. Valery Zakharov
Fast is a time
when we try to reach Canaan. Once a young monk came to his spiritual father and
said, “I’d like to go to Jerusalem. I’d like to go to Athos. I’d like to live
in a desert” – that was his boldness. The father looked at him and said, “I
send you to the desert of your heart”. And we all have to go through this
desert, through the desert of our heart, so that we can reach Canaan. Of
course, we know that this way is quite long. But still we trust God, and we
believe He will guide us, weak people, to this land, if we do not oppose Him.
We often oppose God’s will, but at the same time we hope for His mercy. We hope
that His mercy will cover our negligence; that He will change us, and we will
finally manage to see the ever-burning light in the end of this way and be
happy about our meeting with the One, Who loves us. (After the Divine liturgy on February 2, 2017)
***
Every time we
repent, we hope for God’s mercy. We hope that it will be the victory over sin.
This can be truth, both of these can happen. When we repent, we overcome the
sim, and the Lord defeats it. Unfortunately, it is rather difficult to stay in
this condition. However, we know that what is impossible for us, people, is
possible for God. So we repent in order to preserve the purity we have now. The
fact we cannot preserve it forever should not make us despair. We should try to
root out the sin gradually.
***
God has everything
what we do not have. We get something not because we deserve it, and because we
want it, but because of the act of Love, Which sees us and knows what is useful
for us, what we cannot live without. We lack thankfulness and do not understand
that certain conditions are necessary for us and has their meaning. We live
according to the human standards and cannot imagine our life in the future
Kingdom. We hear the words, which allures us with their meaning, but the
reality is really far from our life. In these short moments when we stand
before God, when we confess or partake of the Holy Communion, when we try to
see ourselves near God, the miracle of theosis occurs. For a short time, we become
saints. And we need to develop this skill: we should not become saints, but be
saints.
***
We do not know
what we will face at the last moment of our life. The only thing we can do is
to ask the Lord that He let us cross this line and bring us not to the abyss,
but to the Kingdom of Heaven. This can be possible only by His mercy, not by
our merits, efforts or wishes. (Before
the confession in the boarding home for children with special needs on September
9, 2016)
By Fr. Sergius Phalei
There is still
time when we can show God that we are thankful, show our love towards Him and
begin to work on ourselves. For example, you cannot fast every day. A longlasting
fast is still an impossible task for you, and you are still not ready for this –
all right then, let it be so. Just pick some days when you will keep a fast.
The most suitable days are Wednesday and Friday, which are fast days during
almost the whole year. Try to keep a fast on these two days.
You can either
come to a priest and say that you want to work somehow, to serve God somehow,
but you do not realize yet how you can do this. Ask for advice. It is possible
to choose the work that you can handle. You will carry it and respond to God’s
call. The Lord will reward you for your work with His love. (After the Gospel reading on March 26, 2017)
By Fr. Sergius Nezhbort
The Lord tells
us to be attentive. It can be so that the head is away from his working place,
and the workers feel themselves free. As we are just people. we depend on our
authorities. However, it is very important that we live in front of God and
feel that we are responsible before Him even if no one can see us right now.
This is the main and the most difficult thing. The work we do builds up our
inner image. A person forms himself with every action and with every thought,
just like a sculpture creates a sculpture. A moment will come, when the form of
the sculpture will become evident, and it will be much more difficult to change
it. (After the Divine liturgy in the
boarding home for people with special needs, on September 2, 2016).
June 21, 2017
St. Elisabeth Convent
CONVERSATION