It
is a great good fortune for us to have the books of the Holy Fathers, for they
speak in detail about the spiritual life.
Of course it would be good to lead a spiritual life under the guidance
of a spiritual director, but holy
men have become fewer, and without a director it is very dangerous to be guided
only by books, just in the way a person who has not studied medicine can go to
the pharmacy and choose something poisonous instead of useful medicines. However, we must not despair. Let us make the publican’s humility our
foundation and the Lord in his goodness will help us sinners and deliver us
from disasters on the spiritual path.
And let us repent of our weaknesses, for all the wrestlers for piety
have held to humility and penitence.
The
great staretz Paissy Velichokovsky also grieved that there were no guides, but
on the basis of his experience in the spiritual life he advised simply
consulting with likeminded people, discussing and reading together the books of
the Holy Fathers. So your group is
very useful, for you exchange ideas there. You need not be worried when there are differences of opinion:
this happens even among the spiritual wrestlers. God is one, and people come to Him from different
directions. So it is very precious
and useful to have a like-minded person to talk with.
The
Lord keep you!
No comments:
Post a Comment