Sword in the Fire

Step 25 - On Humility St. John begins this step talking about the futility of talking about humility. He says that he can speak about it, but unless we act upon it then we can never learn. Humility begins when we begin the struggle for godliness. If we are not struggling to be holy, then we will not learn humility. Signs of humility in your life: (Church sign: If you think you have it, you have lost it. ) 1. Willingness to be humiliated. “The delighted readiness to accept indignity, to receive it with open arms, to welcome it as something that relieves and cauterizes the diseases of the soul.” “indignity shows the true state of the heart.” 2. Freedom from anger. “Wiping out of anger—and modesty over the fact that this has happened.” 3. Humble about spiritual progress. “Honest distrust of one’s virtue, together with the unending desire to know more.” Unfortunately, to become prideful over the development of virtue is to lose what is gained. This is a great trap of the devil. M...

Step 24 - On Meekness, Simplicity, Guilelessness, Wickedness Meekness can be difficult to define. I think our culture hears this word and thinks weakness. It is gentleness of the spirit. It is between apathy and unrestrained zeal or anger. It is the stability of soul because it is grounded in the love and sovereignty of God. St. John further defines meekness by discussing simplicity and guilelessness which is part of being meek. Simplicity: not hypocritical; what you see is what you get. -“those who have simplicity as part of their nature are good, but those who come by it through struggle are better. The reason is that it is the gateway to humility - simplicity opens our life to God’s grace. - Children embody this virtue of simplicity. (Mt. 18:3) "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” Guilelessness: uncalculati...

Step 23 - On Pride Pride is a denial of God; reason for Satan’s fall Is 14:12ff; 1 Tim 3:6 “I have seen people who speak aloud their thanks to God but who in their hearts are glorifying themselves” (Pharisee in Lk 18:11 ) Markers of Pride: 1. Need for Control “The proud man wants to be in charge of things. He would feel lost otherwise.” 2. Can’t accept criticism. “to reject criticism is to show pride” 3. Argumentative Dangers of Pride: 1. You become opposed to God. James 4:6 – this word for resist is a battle word meaning that the person’s pride sets himself as an enemy of God. 2. Dimishes virtues developed. St. John “Pride loses the profits of all hard work and sweat.” --nobody gives humility trophies. 3. It cascades into other sins. Solution: 1. Confession. 2. Lives of the Saints. Reading the lives of the saints help puts our spiritual efforts in perspective. Whatever virt...

Step 22 - On Vainglory St. John “The sun shines on all alike, and vainglory beams on all activities. For instance, I am vainglorious when I fast; and when I relax the fast in order to be unnoticed, I am again vainglorious over my prudence. When well-dressed I am quite overcome by vainglory, and when I put on poor clothes I am vainglorious again. When I talk I am defeated, and when I am silent I am again defeated by it. However I throw this prickly-pear, a spike stands upright.” Vainglory is the first step before pride. This is a not a word in much use today, much like avarice. However, we are awash in it. Obsession with the outward appearance. We are screaming, "Look at me...look at my stuff...look at what I have done." Signs of Vainglory 1. rejoices in appearance both physical and behavior; how we appear before men. 2. the motive for everything is to please men rather than God 3. Response to praise. “men of high spirit endure offence no...

Step 18 Insensitivity - Getting Serious about God Insensitivity is a callousness to spiritual things; just as we can become desensitized to bad things; we can become numb to things of God as well. The following is a longer quote than I would normally read, but it seems so pertinent and convicting. St. John , “He complains of sickness, and does not stop eating what is harmful. He prays against it, and immediately goes and does it. And when he has done it, he is angry with himself; and the wretched man is not ashamed of his own words. 'I am doing wrong,' he cries, and eagerly continues to do so. His mouth prays against his passion, and his body struggles for it. He philosophizes about death, but he behaves as if he were immortal. He groans over the separation of soul and body, but drowses along as if he were eternal. He talks of temperance and self-control, but he lives for gluttony. He reads about the judgment and begins to smile. He reads about vainglory, ...

Step 16 On Avarice -unfortunately Avarice is not a word often used in the English language, and it is my guess that most would not know what it means. In fact, I remember looking it up just a few years back. Just in case you do not know, it means the love of money. Avarice, according to St. John, is Idolatry, and the offspring of unbelief. This is obvious because it wealth becomes the substance that trust to provide for us (1 Tim 6:10). It will sustain us, and shows our lack of faith in God. St. John, "The man who has conquered this vice has cut our care, but the man trapped by it can never pray freely to God." Met. Bloom's book, Beginning to Pray, discusses this holding onto the material as it relates to prayer. According to Bloom, prayer is a relationship of love. And we can only understand this relationship with God through the beatitude of poverty. All that we possess as humans is a gift from God, and we must realize that we possess nothing that we can keep. ...

Ascension The following are notes from a class we did at St. Michael's on the 12 great feasts of the Church. Ascension occurs 40 Days after Pascha; always on a Thursday The ascension of Christ is his final physical departure from this world after the resurrection. It is the formal completion of his mission in this world as the Messianic Saviour. It is his glorious return to the Father who had sent him into the world to accomplish the work that he had given him to do (Jn 17:4-5). The following points are a list of several themes that come out in our celebration of the feast. These were drawn from the festal hymns and Scripture readings. The hymns below reference the service where they are found. V for Vespers, M for Matins, and L for liturgy. 1. A Promise of the Holy Spirit V. The Lord has been taken up into heaven, that he may send the Advocate to the world. V. Lord Christ, giver of life, as your Apostles saw you borne up on clouds, filled with lamentations of tears of dejection, g...