Just as it is a pressing duty of every Christian when he loses his peace of heart to do all he can to restore it, so is it no less obligatory for him to allow no accidental happenings of life to disturb this peace; I mean illness, wounds, death of relatives, wars, fires, sudden joys, fears and sorrows, memories of former sins and errors, in a word everything which usually troubles and agitates the heart. It is indispensable in such cases not to allow oneself to feel worry and agitation, for, having succumbed to them, a man loses self-possession and the capacity to understand events clearly and see the right way to act, each of which gives the enemy the possibility to agitate a man still more and push him to take some step, that is difficult or quite impossible to remedy.
I do not mean to say you must not admit sorrow, for this is not in our power. What I mean is—do not let sorrow take possession of your heart and agitate it; keep it outside the bounds of your heart and hasten to soften and restrain it, so that it may not prevent you from reasoning soundly and acting rightly. With God's help this is in our power, if religious and moral feelings and dispositions are strong in us.
Each affliction has its own peculiarities and each requires its own remedies; but I speak now about them in general, having in view their common quality—to trouble and agitate the soul, and having in mind a general remedy against them. This remedy is faith in the good Providence, which arranges the course of our life with all its accidental happenings, for the good of each of us, and a serene compliance with God's will, expressed in our attitude, in accordance with which we call from the bottom of our heart: Let God's will be done! As the Lord wills, so let it be, and be for our good.
This good is realised and felt differently by different people. One realises: this goodness of God's leads me to repentance; another feels: it is because of my sins that the Lord has sent me this trial to purify me of them; I am bearing God's penance; a third thinks: the Lord is testing me, whether I serve Him sincerely. Those who look from outside at a man subjected to afflictions may think the fourth: this is sent him, that the works of God may be revealed in him. But such a verdict can be in place only when affliction is ended, and when God's help is evident in the soul of the afflicted man. Only the first three feelings should have place. No matter which of them enters the heart, each has the virtue and strength to still the rising storm of sorrow and establish peace and good cheer in the heart.
And here is a general means for making peace in the heart, when some affliction tries to disturb it: with all your strength make firm your faith in the goodness of God's Providence towards you and revive in your soul a devoted submission to God's will; then introduce into the heart reflections mentioned above and urge it to feel that the affliction you suffer at this moment is either a means y which the Lord puts you to the test, or a purifying penance He imposes on you, or that He thus presses you to repent, either in general, or particularly in connection with some wrong action of yours, which has remained forgotten. As soon as the heart begins to have one such feeling, the pain immediately abates and these two other feelings also can come in. All these together will very quickly establish such peace and good cheer in you that you cannot but cry out: 'Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever!' These feelings in the troubled heart are as oil on the waves of the sea: the waves are stilled and there is a great calm.
Thus bring peace to the heart, in whatever degree it be troubled. But if by long effort on yourself and by many spiritual endeavors you implant these feelings in your heart, so that it is always filled with them, then no afflictions will ever trouble you, for this disposition will most effectively prevent them. I do not mean that feelings of sorrow will never assail you: they will come, but will at once retreat, as waves from a mighty cliff.
--St. Theophan the Recluse and St. Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain, ch 27, Unseen Warfare (SVS Press, 1987/2000), pp 155-156.
Posted by Clifton at March 20, 2006 01:41 PM | TrackBack