The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Seventy-one Part III
Posted in Virtue, Love, perfection, St. Isaac the Syrian, Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian, hope on Feb 27th, 2020 Comments
Posted in Virtue, Love, perfection, St. Isaac the Syrian, Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian, hope on Feb 27th, 2020 Comments
Posted in Asceticism, Prayer, Virtue, humility, desire for God, Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian on Feb 20th, 2020 Comments
This evening we continued our reading of homily 71. St. Isaac continues to define for us the essential virtues that lead us to the end of our course. Tonight, however, he not only describes for us and defines for us the nature of prayer and of humility as virtues, but he lays out for us the specific Asceticism of prayer and humility; how we exercise ourselves in faith to set God above all things - most of all above our egos. There’s an absolute quality to this response to God that Isaac puts before us. We have to have both feet within the kingdom, otherwise it is like we are unequally yoked in regards to our desires. We cannot desire God and the things of this world. To do so, even in the most subtle of ways, is to diminish our love for God and fall onto a path of mediocrity. God would have us completely and desires to be the object of the full desire of our hearts.
Posted in Virtue, Temptation, humility, purity of heart, suffering, trials, Cross, St. Isaac the Syrian, Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian, mercy, repentance, purification on Feb 13th, 2020 Comments
Posted in Temptation, Spiritual Battle, Love, grace, St. Isaac the Syrian, faith, Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian, passions, hope on Feb 6th, 2020 Comments
Tonight our discussion focused upon the conclusion of homily 69 and the beginning of homily 70. Both present us with an exquisite description of the nature and action of God‘s grace upon the soul; how we experience an alteration in the mind and indeed a struggle with our passions, with temptations and our falls only to be lifted up by the grace of God again. Isaac presents us with a vision of God who is intimately involved in our lives and seeks to draw us from glory to glory into the depths of his own life. He does that, however, within the context of our humanity and understanding that we must be drawn deeper through our struggles to see and comprehend the truth as he seeks to make known. God does not free us from the spiritual warfare and the struggle with temptation; rather He thrusts us into its depths to bring us to greater repentance and draw us back to himself and makes us steadfast in the faith, hope and love. Our mind must die to the world and to the passions and be transformed by grace. The passions don’t die: we must die to self and sin and put on the mind of Christ. Grace, Isaac tells us, carries us in the palm of her hand. God will never abandon us in the struggle but is ever present to keep us from falling into despair.