Now that we know where the battle we have just begun is to be fought, and what and where our goal is, we also understand why our warefare ought to be caled the invisible warfare. It all takes place in the heart, and in silence, deep within us; and this is another serious matter, on which the holy Fathers lay much stress: keep your lips tight shut on your secret! If one opens the door of the steam bath the heat escapes, and the treatment loses its benefit.
Thus say nothing to anyone of your newly conceived purpose. Say nothing of the new life you have begun or of the experiment you are making and experiences you expect to have. All this is a matter between God and you, and only between you two. The only exception might be your father-confessor.
This silence is necessary because all chatter about one's own concerns nourishes self-proccupation and self-trust. . . .
Hereafter you will consider that everything that happens to you, both great and small, is sent by God to help you in your warfare. He alone knows what is necessary for you and what you need at the moment: adversity and prosperity, temptation and fall. Nothing happens accidentally or in such a way that you cannot learn from it; you must understand this at once, for this is how your trust grows in the Lord whom you have chosen to follow.
Tito Colliander's Way of the Ascetics (St. Vladimir's Seminary Press: 1960/2003). pp. 9-10
Posted by Clifton at February 28, 2006 08:41 AM | TrackBack