I'm one who normally makes resolutions for the coming year, though such resolutions normally function as project-like goals: read x number of books, submit x articles for publication, lose x pounds of weight. And so it goes.
This year I still have some of those resolutions, but I'm focusing much more directly on one specific arena: battling the passions.
In a sense, this doesn't even qualify as a New Year's resolution, for, properly understood, the battle against the passions, the "unseen warfare," is normative for the Christian life. And truth be told, I've been resolving to focus my attention on this for some months, as little by little my practical comprehension of this truth makes further inroads in my heart and mind. But given the cultural context of New Year's Resolutions, I figure I may as well baptize this phenomenon in prayer and action, so one of my resolutions this year is to battle the passions (starting with, as St. John Cassian teaches, gluttony).
And so as to provide a reminder to myself for the next week at least (or as long as they stay on the main page here), I'm posting these notes to myself.
On the Passions:
St. Theophan the Recluse, The Spiritual Life and How to Be Attuned to It, chs. 53-63
St. Theophan the Recluse, The Path to Salvation, Part III, Ch. 7
St. John Cassian, The Monastic Institutes, Bks V-XIII
On a Rule for Eating and Drinking:
St. Benedict of Nursia, Rule, chs. 39-41
As exemplified by Blessed Hieromonk Seraphim:
The Ascetic Life of Fr. Seraphim Rose