We want to help.

And hidden beneath all of it, almost always, is something far less pure.

We do not trust that God can work without us.

⸻

The Fathers cut through this illusion without mercy, but not without compassion.

A man begins to speak and sees that his heart is stirred by vainglory. Not always in the moment. Sometimes afterward. The sweetness comes later. The memory of being useful. Of being seen. Of being right.

So he asks the obvious question. Should I remain silent?

The Elder refuses the simplicity of that escape.

Silence is not purity if it is chosen to protect one’s image.

The issue is not whether you speak or remain silent.

If a word must be spoken for the sake of another, then speak it. But do not pretend you are clean. Do not wait until your heart is free of vainglory. It will not be. Speak, and then stand before God and accuse yourself.

“I spoke with vainglory.”

This is the path. Not control. Not perfection. But truth.

⸻

We prefer another way.

We want to purify our motives before acting.

This is fantasy.

It is a refined form of pride.

⸻

The Fathers show us something far more severe.

There are times when speaking is required.

So we are placed under obedience.

When something disturbs us, we assume it must be addressed. We feel the agitation in the heart and call it discernment. We speak to relieve ourselves and call it charity.

The Elder names it plainly.

If you speak to quiet your own heart, you have already fallen.

This is devastating. Because it exposes how much of what we call concern is nothing more than self-protection. We do not want the discomfort. We do not want the tension. We do not want to suffer the presence of what is unresolved.

So we speak.

Not to heal.

⸻

And when others are disturbed, we cloak ourselves even more skillfully.

“I am speaking for them.”

The Fathers do not deny that responsibility exists. But they strip it of illusion.

You are not the healer.

Bring it to the Abba. Submit it. Be freed from the illusion that everything depends on your intervention.

This is where our resistance intensifies.

Because submission feels like passivity.

But what we are being asked to surrender is not action. It is control.

⸻

There is also fear.

“If I speak, he will hate me.”

The Elder calls this thought what it is. Evil.

Not because the fear is imaginary, but because it shifts the center away from God to human reaction. It makes peace, reputation, and emotional safety the measure of truth.

The image is stark.

A sick man resents the physician.

If you are to act, act in God. Not to be liked. Not to be justified. Not to be safe.

⸻

And then the final blow.

What if you see clearly that your desire to speak is poisoned? That you want to accuse, to expose, to correct in a way that elevates yourself?

Then do not pretend.

Do not remain silent in false righteousness.

Confess your sickness.

Go to the Abba and say, “I want to accuse. I cannot purify my heart.”

Now something real can begin.

Not only the healing of your brother.

⸻

This is the truth we resist.

God is not waiting for our perfect words.

But He will not heal the heart that refuses to be seen as it is.

⸻

We want to be useful.

The Fathers want us to be honest.

Because only the honest man can be entrusted with speech.

⸻

In the end, the question is not this:

Should I speak or remain silent?

The question is this:

Am I willing to let God work without securing a place for myself in the outcome?

Until that is answered, both our silence and our speech will remain infected.

And yet, even this is not the end.

Speak when you must.

And in both, stand before God and say the only true word:

“I am not pure. Have mercy.”

---

Text of chat during the group:

00:02:58 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 373 Volume II number 4

00:07:46 Bob Čihák, AZ: P 373, # 4, top paragraph

00:09:54 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/the-fire-that-remains

00:14:14 Janine: Christ is Risen!

00:15:07 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/the-fire-that-remains

00:15:19 Bob Čihák, AZ: American English translation: You BET He's risen!!!

00:16:09 Bob Čihák, AZ: P 373, # 4, top paragraph

00:23:53 Maureen Cunningham: Job He get up and makes sac fries for his children . In case they would sin

00:58:22 John ‘Jack’: Some of the best council I’ve ever received was “you’re in a difficult situation” it wasn’t what I wanted to hear, but it gave me immense clarity.

01:19:11 Danny Moulton: It seems that tonight's learnings require a great deal of trust that  God can handle another person's shortcomings without our "invaluable" help.

01:19:25 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "It seems that tonigh..." with 👍

01:20:11 Una: Reacted to "It seems that toni..." with 👍

01:21:42 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you. Happy Easter everyone!☺️

01:21:45 Bob Čihák, AZ: Bless you, Father.

01:22:14 Jessica McHale: Many prayers to you and our mom!

There is a clarity in the Fathers that we often resist because it leaves us no place to hide.

They do not flatter the human condition. They do not soften the reality of sin. They do not pretend that the spiritual life is anything other than a battle that reaches into the depths of our thoughts, our desires, our bodies, and our will. They name things as they are. We are weak. We are unstable. We are easily turned. Even when we desire the good, we fail to do it. Even when we hate sin, we fall into it.

And yet, they are not severe in the way the world is severe.

Because at the heart of their vision is not condemnation, but God.

Hope in Him is the foundation of everything.

Not hope in ourselves. Not hope in our effort, our consistency, or our understanding. But hope in the One who “abundantly pours forth righteousness,” and in whom there is no injustice. This hope is not sentimental. It is forged precisely in the experience of our instability. It is born when every illusion about ourselves begins to collapse, and we see that if we are to live, it must be by His mercy alone.

This is why God permits what we fear.

St. Isaac speaks with a boldness that unsettles us: the insults, the illnesses, the humiliations, the intrusive thoughts, the warfare of the demons, the instability of mind and body—these are not signs of abandonment. They are gifts, though bitter ones. They are the means by which the heart is broken open, by which prayer becomes real, by which a man is drawn out of himself and made to cry out to God without distraction.

God wounds in order to heal.

Not arbitrarily. Not cruelly. But because without this, we would remain imprisoned in negligence, in pride, in the quiet assumption that we are capable of sustaining ourselves.

Humility, then, is not a virtue we adopt.

It is the truth revealed in us when we see our condition clearly.

It is the knowledge that we are created, changeable, dependent—that at any moment we can fall, that we cannot preserve ourselves, that we require the power of another for even the smallest good. And this knowledge, if it is embraced, becomes the door to everything.

Because the one who knows his weakness will not trust himself.

And the one who does not trust himself will begin to trust God.

This is the beginning of the path—and the way one remains on it.

For as soon as we forget this, we fall into negligence. And negligence is not simply laziness; it is a kind of spiritual sleep, a dulling of the heart, a quiet turning away from vigilance. And when this happens, St. Isaac tells us something that pierces deeply: we are handed over.

Not as punishment in the human sense, but as awakening.

We are allowed to fall into the very things that reveal us to ourselves. The thoughts we thought we had conquered return. The passions we thought were gone reappear. The weakness we ignored becomes undeniable. And in this, we are shaken—not to destroy us, but to rouse us from illusion.

So that we might begin again, but this time in truth.

And here the Fathers make a distinction that is as compassionate as it is exacting.

Not all sin is the same.

There are sins born of weakness, of ignorance, of habit, of the long war within the flesh. There are sins that wound the heart precisely because they are not desired, that bring grief, that provoke tears, that drive a man back to God. And near to such a man, St. Isaac says, mercy is undoubtedly present.

But there is another path.

The path of negligence embraced. The path where a man abandons the struggle, not because he is weak, but because he no longer wishes to fight. Where he becomes inventive in sin, obedient to it, even zealous for it. Where repentance is postponed, ignored, or despised.

This is the tragedy.

Not that we fall, but that we cease to care that we have fallen.

The Fathers are unyielding here. Because love demands truth.

The measure is not perfection, but direction. Not sinlessness, but the heart’s orientation. Does a man grieve his fall? Does he turn again? Does he remain in the arena, even if wounded, even if ashamed, even if confused?

If so, he is not far from God.

And so the word that emerges from all of this is both fierce and consoling.

Give thanks for everything.

Not because everything is good in itself, but because God uses everything for our healing. Even our falls, when met with repentance, become a place of encounter. Even our weakness becomes a teacher. Even the most bitter experiences, when received with faith, become the ground of humility, and therefore of grace.

Blame yourself, says Isaac—not in despair, not in self-hatred, but in truth. Refuse to accuse God. Refuse to abandon the struggle. Refuse to let your fall become a justification for further distance.

Remain.

This is the radical vision.

A man stripped of illusion. A man who knows his weakness. A man who endures the warfare. A man who falls and rises, falls and rises again. A man who gives thanks in all things. A man who entrusts himself entirely to the mercy of God.

Such a man, though wounded, is being healed.

Such a man, though weak, is being sanctified.

Such a man, though nothing in himself, is held by the goodness and love of God—and will not be lost.

---

Text of chat during the group:

00:01:19 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 187 paragraph 10

00:05:15 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/the-fire-that-remains

00:06:57 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/to-become-fire-and-person

00:12:58 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 187 paragraph 10

00:13:27 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/the-fire-that-remains

00:13:43 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/to-become-fire-and-person

00:22:57 Jessica McHale: So, if a person has fear/anxiety about something in their life, coudl it be that the fear/anxiety someoen feels is God's way to humble us to trust in Him rather than give in to the fear? Is fear a way to humble us so we have total trust in Him?

00:43:05 Maureen Cunningham: Anger would be passion  that is a habbit

00:43:08 Erick Chastain: An instance of this: I  sometimes hear secular people in the world say things like "my patience has its limits". People in the world have very low standards sometimes.

00:43:17 Eleana Urrego: One of the promises of the rosary praying is be deliverance from addictions and obsessions.

00:48:05 David Swiderski, WI: A spiritual director had used to quote Oscar Wilde- We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell . Adding Christ came to save us from ourselves.

00:48:28 Eleana Urrego: Reacted to "A spiritual director..." with 👍🏼

00:49:22 Una: Can you unpack "hypostatic person" a bit? Thanks.

00:49:35 Eleana Urrego: Hell is absence of God

00:49:54 Eleana Urrego: Reacted to "Can you unpack "hypo..." with 👍🏼

00:51:14 David Swiderski, WI: It is not I that live but Christ in me

01:02:03 Elizabeth Richards: Back to humility of heart

01:02:16 Elizabeth Richards: dependence

01:04:59 David Swiderski, WI: That's just the way I am is how I see this expressed

01:07:14 Eleana Urrego: Father, when you say not to excuse praying time, it might also sound like it's up to me to become a saint by my own effort, and that might be religious pride, as you mention in the retreat.

01:11:19 Aaron Johnson: Hi Father, would any form of laxity in prayer/spiritual life due to physical fatigue (physical illness for example), how can one discern if their laxity is either due to weakness or from religious pride?

01:15:31 Elizabeth Richards: When is the retreat?

01:16:12 Eleana Urrego: wow I was not aware, thanks

01:16:17 Kate: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/the-fire-that-remains

01:17:18 Elizabeth Richards: Thanks! The Lenten Retreats have been powerful.

01:18:28 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You

01:18:58 Jessica McHale: Many prayers, blessings, and grace from our great God!!!!

01:18:59 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️

01:19:00 David Swiderski, WI: Thank you Father may God bless you, your Mother and this group.

01:19:03 Bob Čihák, AZ: Love you and thank you, Father.

01:19:09 Aaron Johnson: Thank you!

There is a humility that we speak about.

And there is a humility that is given.

The first is clean.

Understandable.

Manageable.

The second is devastating.

Saint Isaac does not speak of an idea.

He speaks of a man who has seen something in himself, not once, but repeatedly, until illusion collapses.

“A man who has reached this in truth and not in fancy…”

This is the dividing line.

Most of what we call humility is still fantasy.

A posture.

A tone.

A self-perception.

But true humility is born only when a man has been brought face to face with his own instability, his own powerlessness, his own inability to sustain even the smallest good without God.

Not conceptually.

Existentially.

⸻

This is why Isaac says that everything begins with the recognition of one’s weakness.

Not as an idea.

But as a state of being.

A man comes to see that he cannot hold himself together.

He cannot secure his own heart.

He cannot even pray without distraction, without resistance, without collapse.

And from this recognition, something begins to cry out.

Not beautifully.

Not eloquently.

But desperately.

Out of need.

Out of poverty.

Out of a knowledge that if God does not draw near, he will fall apart.

This is the beginning of real prayer.

Not devotion.

Dependence.

⸻

And yet here is the scandal.

God does not always respond as we expect.

He draws near . . . yes.

But not always by removing the trial.

Not always by granting the request.

Sometimes He withholds.

Not out of indifference,

but out of wisdom.

Because the very delay becomes the means by which the soul is held near Him.

Isaac dares to say that God defers His help

so that the man will not depart.

So that he will remain in prayer.

Remain in need.

Remain in proximity.

This is not cruelty.

It is a love that refuses to let the soul return to self-sufficiency.

⸻

And more troubling still:

God permits temptation.

Not always.

But at times.

The assault comes.

The fire burns.

The instability is exposed again.

And the man cries out:

Why?

Why does God not remove this?

Why does He allow this struggle to continue?

Isaac answers with a severity we would rather avoid:

So that you may learn war.

So that you may be instructed.

So that you may know.

Not in theory,

but in experience;

that without Him, you are nothing.

⸻

This is where humility is forged.

Not in peace.

But in exposure.

Not in success.

But in repeated failure.

Not in clarity.

But in the confusion of being unable to sustain oneself.

The man who does not know this, Isaac says, walks on a razor’s edge.

He may appear stable.

Even virtuous.

But he stands near the lion.

The demon of pride.

Because without the knowledge of one’s weakness, the soul inevitably attributes its stability to itself.

And this is the beginning of the fall.

⸻

Humility cannot be acquired directly.

It cannot be chosen as a virtue.

It must be given through conditions that undo the illusion of strength.

Through delay.

Through struggle.

Through temptation.

Through the repeated discovery that one is not what one thought.

This is why Isaac says that humility is acquired only by humility’s own means.

Which is to say:

By being brought low.

By being shown the truth.

By having the inner architecture of conceit quietly dismantled.

⸻

And here the most piercing word emerges.

Without humility, a man’s work is not perfected.

Even if it appears good.

Even if it appears fruitful.

It does not rise above fear.

It is not sealed by the Spirit.

It remains within the realm of the self.

Unstable.

Vulnerable.

Unfounded.

Because only humility forms the foundation that cannot be shaken.

A city built on humility stands.

A life built on anything else trembles.

⸻

And so we must ask:

What if the very things we are trying to escape,

the delay, the dryness, the temptation, the instability,

are the very means by which God is drawing us near?

What if the unanswered prayer

is the mercy?

What if the struggle that does not cease

is the protection?

What if the exposure of our weakness

is the only way we will ever become real?

⸻

We want relief.

God desires communion.

We want stability.

God gives us Himself.

And He will not allow us to possess Him

as long as we believe we can stand without Him.

⸻

The widow cries out before the unjust judge.

Relentlessly.

Without dignity.

Without restraint.

Because she knows she has no other hope.

Isaac places this image before us for a reason.

This is the posture of the humble man.

Not composed.

Not self-contained.

But persistent.

Needy.

Unashamed.

Because he has seen the truth.

⸻

In the end, humility is not thinking less of oneself.

It is knowing, without illusion,

that one cannot live without God.

And not merely knowing it,

but remaining there.

In prayer.

In need.

In trembling.

Afraid not of punishment,

but of losing the nearness of God.

⸻

This is the paradox.

The man who is weak

becomes unshakable.

Because his life is no longer founded on himself.

But on the One

who draws near

to the broken.

---

Text of chat during the group:

00:01:00 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 186 para 5

00:07:13 Bob Čihák, AZ: P 186, #5, second paragraph

00:07:51 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://mailchi.mp/f5f7aa457031/bb0iyi082g

00:08:20 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Registration link for retreat

00:13:56 John ‘Jack’: Will join you in spirit Father

00:14:32 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://mailchi.mp/f5f7aa457031/bb0iyi082g

00:17:51 Bob Čihák, AZ: P 186, #5, second paragraph

00:19:32 Eleana Urrego: Page?

00:20:15 Eleana Urrego: please

00:20:28 David Swiderski, WI: P 186, #5, second paragraph

00:21:35 Eleana Urrego: Replying to "P 186, #5, second pa..."

Thank you!

00:30:15 Ben: Anna: Father, in theory I understand not seeking out distractions and being present in the reality, but what about when one's reality is unbearable?  When we're exhausted, sick, unable to read or think deeply and even vocal prayer is heavy?  How does one direct that restlessness towards God?

00:30:21 Adam Paige: Speaking of repentance and uprooting the passions.. a very blessed feast of Saint Mary of Egypt to all ☦️

00:44:32 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "Speaking of repent..." with ❤️

00:45:28 John ‘Jack’: When folks  ask “how are you” lately rather than saying a half hearted “good.”

I say “better today than yesterday, better tomorrow than today”

I catches them delightfully off guard and opens some wonderful conversations

00:45:39 David Swiderski, WI: This reminds me of a story common in Latin America and not far from the truth of many humble and simple people I encountered in churches which always inspires me.

00:45:49 David Swiderski, WI: A priest was walking through the church at noon. Passing the altar, he decided to stay nearby to see who came to pray. The door opened and he frowned as a man walked down the aisle—unshaven, wearing a torn shirt and a worn‑out coat with frayed edges. The man knelt briefly, bowed his head, then left. For several days, always at noon, the same man entered, knelt for a moment, and walked out. The priest, uneasy, began to suspect he might be a thief. One day he stopped him and asked what he was doing. The man explained he worked nearby and had only a short lunch break, so he came to pray. “I only stay a moment,” he said. “The factory is far, so I kneel and say: ‘Lord, I just came again to tell you, Jesus, how happy I am when you free me from my sins. I don’t know how to pray well, but I think of you every day. So Jesus, this is Jaime reporting.’”

00:58:49 John ‘Jack’: I’ve recently heard (Ren; in one your older conferences, sorry Father 😬) that Gods grace is often most evident in the “tension” of life. 

Life v death

So on.

00:59:27 John ‘Jack’: Replying to "I’ve recently heard …"

01:03:22 Eleana Urrego: Because in Spanish is different "do not let us fall into tentation"

01:03:52 Una: Maybe "lead us not into temptation" could be better thought of as "leave us not in temptation"?

01:05:46 David Swiderski, WI: I had a mentor that always said when I said I have a problem to come back in and say "I have an opportunity to overcome and succeed at xyz"

01:06:16 Eleana Urrego: Reacted to "I had a mentor that ..." with 👍🏼

01:06:26 Ben: Anna: if we understand that we will certainly fall if we are allowed to be tempted then we will perhaps beg God not to let us come to that.

01:06:32 ROBERT IAROPOLI: Reacted to "I had a mentor tha..." with 👍

01:12:12 Mary: Constant prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.

01:12:27 Jacqulyn Dudasko: Reacted to "Constant prayer: Lor..." with 👍

01:14:34 Janine: Always praying for you Father!

01:15:12 Elizabeth Richards: Thank you Father!  Исус воскресне!

01:15:15 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️

01:15:16 Jessica McHale: fruitful holy week and many prayers

01:15:16 David Swiderski, WI: Thank you Father, may God bless you, your mother and this group

01:15:17 ROBERT IAROPOLI: Thank you Father!

01:15:44 Maureen Cunningham: Thank you a Blessed Easter to all, Thank You

01:15:50 Paul Grazal: Great !  Thanks Father

There is a form of speech that wears the mask of righteousness

The Fathers tear this mask from our face.

Mariam spoke what was true

Truth did not save her.

This is the terror.

You may be right.

And still be condemned.

Because the issue is not correctness.

The Fathers do not ask

They ask

⸻

The soul that delights in exposing another

And God, in His terrible mercy,

Mariam’s flesh became white with corruption

Her body told the truth

The outward man

This is the judgment of God.

Not punishment as we imagine it

The hidden made visible.

⸻

You think your words are small.

A single remark.

But the Fathers say

This is participation in the fall itself.

The serpent did not strike Eve with violence.

And she listened.

Calumny is not merely speech.

⸻

And yet

They show a path

To speak of another’s sin

But only under obedience.

Anything else

Even the desire to justify yourself

Why do you need to be seen as righteous?

Why do you need to be understood?

This too

⸻

The true man of God hides himself.

If he must speak

If he sins

If he wounds another

If the other does not know

He does not “clarify.”

Because he has renounced himself.

⸻

The Fathers reveal something we do not want to see.

We do not speak to heal.

Even our “discernment”

We divide the Body of Christ

We expose our brother

We poison love

⸻

But look at Mariam.

Separated from her brother

Her flesh turned against her

Division always returns

This is the law of the spiritual life.

⸻

Life in Christ is not moral correctness.

It is union.

Union with God.

And this union is so delicate

⸻

Therefore the Fathers cry out:

Either rebuke with tears and trembling

There is no middle ground.

Because the tongue

And the heart

---

Text of chat during the group:

00:03:26 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 370

00:11:16 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/the-fire-that-remains

00:13:05 Bob Čihák, AZ: P 370, first paragraph

00:14:20 Jessica McHale: Sounds great!

00:28:01 Una: "It was like something you read in the newspaper," said Brendan Gleeson. Boom! LIke a Flannery O'Connor story (The Misfit).

00:31:58 jonathan: How do you bear the weight of the worlds sadness. I used to justify my detachment, by saying that if i had to 'consume' all the sadness and evil in the world, it would ruin me.  I cannot imagine how anyone could bear psychologically, the weight of the worlds evil. It would break the average man.

00:37:56 Forrest: What sadness do we know from natural means? Compared to unnatural (technological) means? When we detach from concentrated news feeds we are able to recognize the relationships close to us, and enter into THAT sadness, not the global world.

00:40:23 Lee Graham: Reacted to "What sadness do we k…" with ❤️

00:40:54 Danny Moulton: In some sense sadness at a distance is safe sadness.

00:45:09 Bob Čihák, AZ: P 371, A

01:03:27 John ‘Jack’: Sounds like we are being told to be meek and humble of ❤️

01:14:42 Jason Fischer: When we are judgmental in a critical or self righteous way, aren't we attempting to play God?

01:19:46 iPad (2): That is wonderful! Thank you Father!

01:19:49 Paul Grazal: Look forward to it.

01:20:08 Maureen Cunningham: Thank you Blessing to all

01:20:51 Andrew Adams: Thanks be to God! Thank you, Father!

01:20:53 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️

01:20:58 Jessica McHale: Thank You!!! Many, many, any Prayers!

01:20:59 jonathan: God bless you Fr

01:21:18 Bob Čihák, AZ: Bless you, Father.

01:21:19 Paul Grazal: good nite

“A heart that is broken and humbled, God will not despise.”

---

Text of chat during the group:

00:01:18 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 185 paragraph 2

00:13:05 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 185 paragraph 2

00:14:16 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 185 paragraph 2

00:15:57 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 185, 2

00:18:24 Eleana Urrego: Reacted to "P. 185, 2" with 👍🏼

00:28:09 Kathryn Rose: Mary as co-redemptrix

00:28:14 Eleana Urrego: Mary is the supplicant omnipotence.

00:31:36 Eleana Urrego: Reacted to "Mary as co-redemptri..." with ❤️

00:32:03 Jessica McHale: i think a sign of deepenied relationship with God is that prayer become joyful. It's like checkiing in during the day with a spouse and coming home at night to spouse, waking up to a spouse. I see Issac's point about humbling, but it can be a joyful humbling and sign of great trust and love.

00:36:11 Kevin Burke: Reacted to "Mary as co-redemptri…" with ❤️

00:43:38 Bob Čihák, AZ: P 186, #4, first paragraph

00:49:09 Kathryn Rose: Joyful /ecstatic prayer is like god praying within us rather then us praying to god

00:49:52 Maureen Cunningham: Treasury of assurance could say a little

00:50:01 Eleana Urrego: Pray is how my heart breaths

00:50:19 Kate: Is this joy something other than psychological joy?  A joy that is not necessarily felt on a psychological level?

00:55:19 John ‘Jack’: I’d recently spoken to a man (an unbeliever) ; who had a believer friend come to his fathers funeral, he said the freind had a joy about him that actually changed him more than anything else ever had before.

00:56:23 John ‘Jack’: Yes

00:56:38 Maureen Cunningham: Pearl of great price

00:56:47 Eleana Urrego: Reacted to "I’d recently spoken ..." with 😯

00:59:31 David Swiderski, WI: If you look back to the early church it was seeing love and joy that brought people to God. A spiritual director early in my life asked me "how many candles" have you lit for good things that have happened- getting a job, some blessing and how many asking for help for yourself or others. Love is rushing to share all good things with beloved as well as sharing our burdens.

01:00:59 Kathryn Rose: Yurodstvo is a Russian term for "holy foolishness" - becoming foolish for God

01:02:08 Eleana Urrego: Reacted to "Yurodstvo is a Russi..." with ❤️

01:02:47 John ‘Jack’: Was just thinking today how so many of us will question why this “bad thing” happens, yet if we count them against our many blessings (which we often do not) it’s insignificant, just uncomfortable for us, so don’t like it.

01:05:37 Joan Chakonas: From My 51 years in the secular world I can attest to a zero apprehension of life with Christ; it is really hard to describe. But upon my first communion in 2012 it literally radically changed my life.  Overnight I felt the Eucharist and I became a daily communicant.  A completely different life ever since.

01:06:10 John ‘Jack’: Reacted to "From My 51 years in …" with ❤️

01:06:12 Eleana Urrego: Reacted to "From My 51 years in ..." with ❤️

01:12:03 Kathryn Rose: I am learning how to pray different psalters, which I'm finding is a completely different than regular prayer. What is the purpose of psalter?

01:14:57 David Swiderski, WI: It helped me to understand the psalms a simple book Psalm basics for Catholics really helped me by John Bergsma. They are grouped. The book can be understood for kids as well.

01:14:58 John ‘Jack’: That’s the one I use, every day

01:15:24 Anna: Praying Psalter for a single night discussion

01:16:41 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You

01:17:16 Andrew Adams: Thanks be to God! Thank you, Father!

01:17:20 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️

01:17:27 Art: Thank you Father!

01:17:34 David Swiderski, WI: Thank you father, may God bless you, your mother and this group.

01:17:47 Anna: Lol

01:17:47 John ‘Jack’: I love a copy please!

01:17:50 Anna: 😂

01:17:51 Andrew Adams: Lol

01:17:56 Paul Grazal: too funny

01:17:58 Eleana Urrego: me 2 please

01:18:05 Anna: Amazon

01:18:18 Anna: What's the book?

01:18:28 Jesssica Imanaka: God Bless you Father and everyone! See you in teh Summer!

01:18:50 Andrew Adams: Should we send addresses if we haven’t already? I didn’t realize we were that far along.

01:18:53 Eleana Urrego: I dont mind please

01:19:34 Paul Grazal: Thank you Father !

01:19:40 Kevin Burke: Thank you Father!

01:19:45 Eleana Urrego: how can I get a book?

01:19:47 jonathan: God bless you father

You think sin begins when you speak.

The Fathers say it begins when you listen.

The serpent did not force Eve. He spoke.

She inclined her ear.

And through that small opening, death entered the world.

You fear great sins because they are visible.

But calumny is quiet.

It asks only for your attention.

A word is offered.

You do not resist.

You do not rebuke.

You do not turn away.

You listen.

And in listening, you receive.

The Fathers do not soften this.

They do not call it weakness.

They call it destruction.

The one who speaks slander kills with his mouth.

But the one who listens becomes his accomplice.

The poison does not remain in the speaker. It passes into you.

You carry it. You knead it into your heart.

Soon you will speak it.

And then you will call it discernment.

You say, “But it is true.”

The Fathers answer: truth on the tongue of a demon is still poison.

The devil does not always lie.

He mixes truth with venom.

He sweetens the word so that you will swallow it.

And once it is within you, it becomes bitterness.

This is why Christ refused even the true words of demons.

This is why the Apostles closed their ears.

Not because they feared lies.

But because they knew how truth can be weaponized.

You do not understand the violence of this sin.

You think it is speech.

The Fathers say it is murder.

“Better to eat meat and drink wine than to eat the flesh of your brother.”

When you listen to calumny, you consume him.

You strip him of dignity in your heart.

You become incapable of seeing him as God sees him.

And at that moment, you have already judged and condemned him.

Do not deceive yourself.

Silence is not innocence if your ears are open.

A soldier may be covered in armor.

But a single opening is enough for death.

Your ear is that opening.

You guard your body from impurity.

You guard your tongue when it suits you.

But your ears remain unguarded, curious, receptive.

You sit near the accuser.

You nod.

You take it in.

And you call this harmless.

The Fathers call it the fall of Adam repeated.

Close the door.

Do not negotiate.

Do not linger.

Do not taste the sweetness of another’s shame.

Flee the word before it enters.

Cut it off before it forms within you.

Refuse even the appearance of listening.

Better to be thought rude than to be found complicit in death.

Because once the word enters,

it does not leave easily.

And if you allow it to remain,

you will become what you have received.

The serpent no longer needs to speak.

You will speak for him.

---

Text of chat during the group:

00:02:34 Bob Čihák, AZ: P 368, G

00:17:18 Una: What is the email?

00:17:26 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "What is the email?" with 👍

00:17:58 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: [email protected]

00:21:24 Lee Graham: Please give me the name of Themes in Psychology

00:22:34 Jessica McHale: Replying to "Please give me the..."

Themes in Orthodox Patristic Psychology: Humility, Obedience, Repentence, and Love

00:28:32 Lee Graham: Replying to "Please give me the n…"

00:34:06 Bob Čihák, AZ: P 368, H

00:55:21 Jason Fischer: When you speak of silence, would that include meditation

00:56:49 Joan Chakonas: Even dark truth expressed in calumny is better left to God to handle.  Nothing good comes  from evil spoken or in fact.

01:01:10 Jonathan Grobler: We're do we draw the line between calumny, and informing the church of someone's grave sin.

Paul told us to not to talk about people's venial sins, but if we see someone committing sin that leads to death, to first talk to them in private, and if they do not wish to listen, to then escalate it to the church.

01:18:35 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You always a blessing. The Blog was wonderful. Blessing

01:18:55 Lee Graham: Thank you since I missed last week

01:19:05 ROBERT IAROPOLI: Thank you, Father. Have a good night.

01:19:57 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️

01:20:06 Jennifer Dantchev: Thank you!

After speaking in broad and sometimes severe lines about the struggle of the spiritual life, the holy elder begins to lower his voice.

He reveals what makes it possible to walk it.

Not resolve.

Not mastery.

A wall begins to give way.

Death itself draws near without warning.

Or quietly leads the man away.

Or even permits the blow, yet removes its power to destroy.

It becomes peaceful.

And so God becomes his constant care.

He begins with weakness.

Not the man who speaks harshly of himself.

But the one who sees.

It is given.

He struggles. He plans. He guards himself.

He tries to secure peace through effort, discipline, vigilance.

Trembling remains.

The heart refuses to be stilled.

A help that is not its own.

A help that saves.

He gathers himself inwardly, not out of fear, but out of clarity.

And with God, he does not need to be afraid.

Humility says: I cannot hold my life on my own.

Not a path of control or self-assurance.

---

Text of chat during the group:

00:14:25 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 183, #6, last paragraph

00:15:15 Janine: That’s a great book! Watchful mind

00:15:31 Bob Čihák, AZ: I'll take one!

00:15:54 Alan Henderson: I came in late, which books is he offering to give?

00:16:28 Art iPhone: The Watchful Mind was one .

00:16:29 Wayne: Already have a copy.

00:18:37 Andrew Adams: I’d be interested in both

00:18:44 Jessica McHale: Would love copies!

00:18:48 Maureen Cunningham: Wonderful a yes from  Ken and I

00:19:03 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 183, #6, last paragraph

00:19:44 Ursula McKenzie: I'd like both! Ursula

00:32:18 Ryan Ngeve: Father how far can one go with his ‘daring’ before it is considered ‘testing the Lord’

00:35:17 Gwen’s iPhone: I always been the told the ultimate way to tempt God is to commit suicide.

00:37:42 John ‘Jack’: I sometimes wonder if the reason I don’t feel anxious very often is that I’ve created a life for myself wherein I don’t venture into “uncomfortable” or unknown situations. 

I’ve expressed this concern to others before and they assure me I don’t “play it safe” in this regard. I just hope they’re being truthful and not just kind. 

I dealt with anxiety often in my younger days.

00:37:59 Anna: It's also caused by medications or medical issues that are not related to psychology or satanic.

00:42:34 Maureen Cunningham: What you said a few  Wen. Ago about abuse that a person

00:42:56 Maureen Cunningham: Suffers one thing after another.

00:45:03 Erick Chastain: God seems to use difficult circumstances and anxiety-provoking situations to systematically destroy our self-reliance. Especially when we try to solve the situations as st isaac says, when we try to do so naturally in part.

00:45:25 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "God seems to use d..." with 👍

00:45:26 John ‘Jack’: Reacted to "I sometimes wonder i…" with 👍

00:55:36 Ben: Isaac himself lost his sight, didn't he? Did it literally happen to him, I wonder, what the psalm says?

01:10:23 Jesssica Imanaka: Speaking of this surety in religious life, I need to hop off to attend Vespers now!

01:10:29 Ryan Ngeve: Father is it possible for watchfulness to lead to a type of self-absorption? If so, how and how does one overcome it.

01:18:31 John ‘Jack’: Likewise

01:18:32 Julie: Thank you Father

01:18:34 Paul Grazal: wonderful !  getting through loud and clear Father

01:18:41 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You  everyone  Blessing Father so thankful for your teachings

01:18:41 Kevin Burke: Amen!

01:18:43 David Swiderski, WI: Thank you Father may God bless you, your mother and this group.

01:19:22 Andrew Adams: Thanks be to God! Thank you, Father!

01:19:24 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️

01:19:32 Francisco Ingham: Thank you father!

01:20:03 Maureen Cunningham: Just tell me how much to send and were

01:20:07 Andrew Adams: Sign me up

01:20:11 Rod Castillo: Please count me in for both books

01:20:11 Jessica McHale: You are such a blessing!!!! Thank you! Many prayers!

01:20:12 Kevin Burke: Watchful mind!

Lenten Retreat 2026 Fourth Reflection The Man Who Has Nothing Left But God

On the Life That Appears When the Self That Lived Has Died “I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me.”

Galatians 2:20

There comes a moment that the man cannot perceive directly, because the one who would perceive it is no longer there.

He has passed through the loss of support. He has passed through the disappearance of certainty. He has passed through the collapse of identity. He has passed through the experience of abandonment in which he could no longer locate himself in relation to God or even in relation to himself.

He has stood where nothing remained to sustain the sense that he existed.

He did not cross this threshold through effort. He did not achieve it through discipline. He did not arrive there through understanding.

He arrived there because everything he used to sustain himself had been taken. And he did not die.

The self he knew has disappeared. The structure that allowed him to experience continuity has dissolved. The identity he inhabited cannot be recovered.

And yet he remains.

Before this, he experienced himself as existing from himself. Even in humility. Even in repentance. Even in dependence on God, he remained the one who depended. He remained the center from which his life was lived.

Now this center cannot be found.

1

He cannot locate himself as the source of his own existence. He cannot experience himself as self originating.

The Psalmist speaks from within this mystery when he says, “My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.” Psalm 62:8

Before this, the man believed he clung to God. He believed his faith held him in relation to God. He believed his perseverance sustained his life.

Now he sees that even his clinging was sustained.

He sees that he has never lived by his own strength.

He sees that he has never possessed life in himself.

St. Symeon the New Theologian writes that when grace reveals itself fully, the soul sees that it has always existed by borrowed life.

Not poetic life.

Actual life.

The man now experiences himself as upheld.

Not helped.

Upheld.

This produces a peace that cannot be explained to the man who still lives from himself.

Because the man who lives from himself must constantly preserve himself. He must maintain continuity.

2

He must secure stability.

He must ensure that he continues.

Fear is inseparable from this condition.

Fear of loss.

Fear of failure.

Fear of death.

Fear of disappearance.

But the man who no longer lives from himself cannot preserve himself.

Because he no longer possesses himself.

Christ says, “Whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Matthew 16:25

This finding is not recovery.

It is discovery.

The discovery that life was never his.

The discovery that existence belongs to God.

St. Isaac the Syrian writes that the man who has come to know his nothingness has come to know the truth of his existence.

Nothingness does not mean nonexistence.

3

Not as thought.

As being.

The man no longer moves toward God.

He moves in Him.

He no longer depends on God as one thing depends on another.

He exists as one upheld from within.

Christ says, “Abide in Me, and I in you.” John 15:4

This abiding is not effort.

It is the end of resistance.

The man no longer attempts to ground himself.

He no longer attempts to preserve himself.

He no longer attempts to exist from himself.

These movements have ended.

Because the one who performed them has died.

St. Silouan the Athonite writes that the soul that has come to know God through the Holy Spirit no longer fears anything.

This fearlessness does not arise from strength. It arises from dispossession.

Nothing remains to be secured. The man exists.

4

But he does not belong to himself.

St. Sophrony writes that the human person becomes fully real only when he ceases to exist as an autonomous center.

Autonomy is the consequence of separation from God. Communion is the restoration of life.

The man who lives in communion no longer experiences himself as isolated existence.

He experiences himself as relation.

5

It is ontological disappearance.

The self that lived apart from God has ended.

What remains is life.

Not his life.

God’s life.

St. Paul writes, “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:3

Hidden.

6

This life does not appear as triumph.

He must anticipate loss.

He must guard against death.

But the man who no longer lives from himself has nothing to guard.

Nothing to preserve.

Nothing to secure.

His life is no longer his responsibility.

It is God’s.

St. Peter speaks this truth plainly, “Cast all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7

Not as comfort.

7

St. Silouan writes that when the soul comes to know this life, it desires nothing else. Even suffering cannot remove its peace, because its life is no longer located in what suffers.

The body may weaken.

Archimandrite Sophrony writes that at this stage, man begins to live hypostatically. He exists no longer as an isolated psychological individual, but as a person whose being is rooted in the divine Person of Christ.

This life is hidden even from the man himself. He cannot grasp it.

He can only live it.

8

And precisely in this nothingness, God becomes everything.

Abba Macarius said, “The man who has truly come to know himself sees himself as beneath all creation.”

Not as metaphor.

Archimandrite Zacharias writes that when this life appears, prayer becomes self acting. The heart continues in God without effort. The man no longer generates prayer. Prayer becomes the life of God within him.

St. Paul speaks of this mystery, “The Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” Romans 8:26

Not we pray.

The Spirit prays.

The man has become the place where God lives.

This is why fear disappears.

Not because suffering ends.

But because death has already occurred.

The man has already lost himself.

There is nothing left to lose.

Christ says, “He who believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live.” John 11:25

This is not only future. It is present.

9

The man has died.

St. Ignatius of Antioch, walking toward martyrdom, said, “It is no longer I who live, but there is within me a living water that speaks and says, Come to the Father.”

This is the voice of the life that remains.

10

---

Text of chat during the group:

00:02:25 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: From the dismantling of the religious ego there emerges first a profound poverty of heart. The man who once relied upon his virtues, his understanding, or his religious identity discovers that none of these can sustain him before God. What comes into being in this poverty is humility—not as an idea about oneself, but as a quiet truthfulness. The soul no longer needs to defend itself, justify itself, or measure its progress. Having seen its own weakness and the mercy of God, the heart becomes simple and soft. Compassion begins to arise almost without effort, because the man now recognizes in others the same frailty he has discovered within himself. Prayer also changes in character. It is no longer the activity of someone seeking spiritual achievement, but the cry of a heart that knows its need for God and rests in His mercy.

00:02:40 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: From this humility something deeper is gradually born: a new way of existing before God and others. The person who once lived within the tight circle of self-concern begins to expand inwardly. Peace appears—not the fragile peace that depends on circumstances or success, but a deeper stillness that comes from having nothing left to protect or prove. The heart becomes capable of bearing others, interceding for them, and loving without calculation. In the language of the fathers and the modern elders, this is the beginning of true personhood: the birth of a man whose life is no longer organized around the maintenance of the self, but around communion with God. What emerges from the dismantling of the religious ego, therefore, is not spiritual ruin but a hidden new life—humble, spacious, and quietly alive with the presence of God.

00:39:44 Adam Paige: Reacted to "These paradoxes remi…" with 👍

00:53:43 Eleana Urrego: Virgen Mary was not a powerful woman

01:02:32 Francisco Ingham: “What remains is Life”

So beautiful Father, life giving words

01:03:23 Maureen Cunningham: It Beautiful

01:05:01 David Swiderski, WI: Some of the holiest people who seem to carry an aura or sense of peace have often had very traumatic and bad experiences and most not priest or monks but ordinary people. Others when confronted with the same become narcissists and hold the illusion of being successful.  There is a sense of joy felt being around them and sadness in leaving them.  It seems that tearing down of anything tying us to things of this world is often a blessing. When you have nothing left to depend on there is only faith then the smallest things and kindnesses become treasures that were invisible in the past. That point seems an invitation for us unencumbered by things of this world to draw closer to the source of all that is good. I think all of us can look at a younger version of ourselves not recognizing that person as us but almost as a stranger with the thought- what was I (that person) thinking. Humility, loss, repentance seem to lead us to see not with our eyes but a glimpse of what He sees.

01:07:57 Francisco Ingham: Reacted to "Some of the holiest …" with ❤️

01:36:53 Danny Moulton: I couldn’t help but think of Aquinas and his sudden awareness that his work was “straw.” I wonder if he experienced the transformation you mention. In other words, a shedding of himself to live fully in God.

01:37:50 Maureen Cunningham: When you say become prayer does that mean you are no longer requesting

01:38:31 ROBERT IAROPOLI: Reacted to "Some of the holies..." with ❤️

01:38:35 Fr Martin, Arizona: Certainly, as you spoke today, I felt myself drawn into this desire to live in the breath of love, that God is enough, upheld in love. It seems to make sense somewhere within me. Will I still maintain this sense or thought when my pastoral counsel tells me what it wants in the parish at our meeting tomorrow? I’m sad that I too often find myself in myself again.

01:38:42 Danny Moulton: Reacted to "Some of the holiest ..." with ❤️

01:40:09 Ben: Anna; That anecdote of St. Philip Neri bursting into tears at the party and the teaching that we will no longer see the sins and faults of our neighbour seem to contradict each other.

01:45:00 iPhone: As one makes spiritual progress is some of the fear rooted more in entering the unknown? I think a big part of identity is centered on social relationships. How might this be an impediment in one’s spiritual journey? Is it a spiritual mourning to lose those aspects/sources of one’s identity?

01:53:20 Parnak K.: He went through severe trauma as a child then again in his late adolescence, when he had nothing to live for, and wanted to die.  He somehow held on, after “surviving” on alcohol and another addiction.  Finally, after managing to achieve a false appearance of being successful, a deep sense of emptiness and loss finally hit him. He surrendered to God and asked Him to come back in his life.  His life changed.  He received the sacraments once more, only now with real meaning.  But still, he did not receive the total transformation described here, even though he was thoroughly dismantled and God restored him to life.

01:53:25 Jared: I struggle to harmonize God's command to provide and care for my family with his command to not be anxious for anything. I know that in myself I do not have the ability to care for them as I should, yet I often live as though everything depends on me. I don't trust God enough to make up for my deficiencies. Also, I worry about bad things happening to my family because I know it will also bring me deep pain. My identity is bound up with them. Sometimes, I wonder if God is calling me to make difficult decisions, but I hesitate to make them because I wonder how those decisions will affect my family's security. God cares for me and my family more than I do, more than I can ever imagine. Why can't I trust him whole-heartedly and without reserve? Why can't I let go and stop holding on so tightly to my both my family and my sense of responsibility for them?

01:57:01 ROBERT IAROPOLI: Reacted to "I struggle to harm..." with 👍

02:00:27 Jessica McHale: This retreat has clarified something I’ve struggled with for eight years and thought six relocations. I’ve been searching for 'community' as a way to find a home, but I realize now that God has been stripping away that desire to show me something greater. I am not going to find Him in a parish, a group, or an identity with a community; I will only find Him in Himself. This isn't a punishment, but a beautiful reality: He is enough. While community is a gift, it is not my 'destination.' Thank you for helping me confirm that He is all I truly need and to focus on that union.

02:01:00 ROBERT IAROPOLI: Reacted to "This retreat has c..." with ❤️

02:01:38 Sophia Bomba: Reacted to "This retreat has c..." with ❤️

02:01:47 David Swiderski, WI: Reacted to "This retreat has cla..." with 👍

02:02:01 Danny Moulton: Reacted to "This retreat has cla..." with ❤️

02:06:16 David Swiderski, WI: Thank you Father may God bless you, your mother and this group. Where 75 gather on Zoom He is present :)

02:06:26 Julie: Thankyou Father🙏

02:06:38 Rita’s iPhone: Thank you!

02:06:43 Jesssica Imanaka: Reacted to "Thank you Father may..." with ❤️

02:06:44 ROBERT IAROPOLI: Thank you, Father. This was wonderful. God bless you.

02:06:44 Jared: Thank you very much for these talks Father! They've made me think a lot.

02:06:45 Janine: So wonderful! And you explained it clearly! Thank you!

02:06:48 Gwen’s iPhone: Thank you. Prayers.

02:07:00 kristy: Thank you!

02:07:03 Jessica McHale: Hallelujah! Thank you, Father and God bless you and your mother. Many prayers!!!

02:07:04 Ivan: Thank you!

02:07:07 Bob Čihák, AZ: I pray for you every day, Father

02:07:44 Sophia Bomba: Thank you Fr. This was a wonderful retreat.

02:07:44 Andrew Adams: Thanks be to God! Thank you, Father, for the amazing retreat!

02:07:47 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️

02:07:59 Jesssica Imanaka: Thank you, Father!

02:08:12 Erick Chastain: Thank you fr

“Faith has need of labors also, and confidence in God is the good witness of the conscience born of undergoing hardship for the virtues.”

— St. Isaac the Syrian

---

Text of chat during the group:

00:10:07 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 182, #3, first paragraph

00:19:03 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 182, #3, first paragraph

00:40:42 Jessica McHale: When I am very tired, and I pray Vespers or Compline, I sometimes move through the psalms with inattention and just moving through because I am so tired. At those times, is it better to give 2 lines of attention to God or push through all the psalms? I love praying the Hours, but when I am so tired after a long day (for a variety of reasons), it can be a challenge to really be with the Lord when praying.

00:41:27 Wayne: Reacted to "When I am very tired..." with 👍

00:43:47 Nypaver Clan: Page # ?

00:44:08 Jesssica Imanaka: 182

00:44:12 Myles Davidson: Replying to "Page # ?"

182

00:44:15 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "182" with ❤️

00:44:30 Myles Davidson: Replying to "Page # ?"

About to start last paragraph

00:48:55 John ‘Jack’: I’m often taken how we/one can say “ how can a good God let these bad things happen” yet we spend minimal time in prayer worship.

Why would we expect blessings of a relational love of God when we don’t show him love.

00:48:56 Ryan Ngeve: Father, isn’t the very act of toiling for God an act of hope itself?

01:03:31 David Swiderski, WI: I have been trying to follow the Kathisma which I like for Matins but to be honest the vespers with the daily repeat of 18 feels tiresome for some reason. Just wondering why the matins changes each day but the vespers only has the same group over and over.

01:07:00 Jessica McHale: I use a Melkite breviary and the Kathisma for vespers does change. Orthros is very long. It's been great for me to get to know the psalms much more by following the Kathisma.

01:08:59 Myles Davidson: Th 1962 Breviary and previous in the Latin rite work on a weekly cycle

01:10:10 Joan Chakonas: I find consolation in reminding myself, when annoyed by something as mundane as being stuck behind a school bus, that its Gods will that I am stuck behind the school bus at this moment.  My annoyance evaporates and This gift from God is like gold to me.  His will is something I’ve been focusing on this Lent-it is so consoling to keep this in mind .

01:10:57 ROBERT IAROPOLI: Reacted to "I find consolation..." with ❤️

01:13:08 Jesssica Imanaka: Reacted to "I find consolation i..." with ❤️

01:13:09 Eleana Urrego: Reacted to "I find consolation i..." with 👍🏼

01:13:26 John ‘Jack’: Reacted to "I find consolation i…" with ❤️

01:13:33 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "I find consolation..." with ❤️

01:13:36 Ben: Reacted to "I find consolation i..." with ❤️

01:14:37 Ben: Anna: Is it helpful to do penance for all the sins we would have commit but God saved us from?

01:16:44 Fr Martin, Arizona: I still today have seen God rescue people as Isaac says. Trust God. On my way to Pittsburgh my connecting flight arrived late, I still prayed and went to the gate. The plane to Pittsburgh had boarded, closed the door, and the clerk called inside the plane and told them to open the door and let me on. I've never seen that before. I've sometimes been frustrated by being delayed to find out that God had a reason for my delay. Even delays build my faith and trust in God.

01:19:10 David Swiderski, WI: Every day, a farmer relied on his horse to work his fields. One day, the horse ran away. The villagers said, “Such bad luck,” but the farmer replied, “Bad luck. Good luck. Who knows?” Weeks later, the horse returned with a herd of nine more. The villagers cheered his “good luck,” but he gave the same calm reply. Later, the farmer’s son tried to tame one of the new horses, fell, and broke his leg. Again the villagers lamented the “bad luck,” and again the farmer said, “Bad luck. Good luck. Who knows?” A month later, the army came through town, conscripting every able-bodied young man. Seeing the son’s broken leg, they passed him by. The villagers celebrated the farmer’s “good luck,” but he simply repeated, “Bad luck. Good luck. Who knows?”

01:19:28 David Swiderski, WI: My Uncle used to tell me this story when I was young I still remember it fondly

01:20:12 Elizabeth Richards: Reacted to "My Uncle used to tel..." with ❤️

01:20:24 Julie: Reacted to "Every day, a farmer …" with ❤️

01:20:32 John ‘Jack’: Reacted to "Every day, a farmer …" with ❤️

01:20:36 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "My Uncle used to tel..." with ❤️

01:20:53 Catherine Opie: Yes if I get frustrated or anxious that my plans will not come to fruition I am missing all the gifts God is offering me in the moment.

01:22:58 Maureen Cunningham: Lord’s Blessing to all . Thank You Father

01:23:11 Janine: Thank you Father!

01:23:43 David Swiderski, WI: Thank you Father, may God bless you your mother and this group.

01:23:44 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️

01:23:52 Joan Chakonas: Thank you Father

01:23:53 Elizabeth Richards: Amen- peace to you Father

01:23:54 Bob Čihák, AZ: Bless you, Father

01:23:56 Jessica McHale: Thank you!!! Many prayers!

A brother said to an elder,

“Father, what is calumny?”

The elder said,

“Death.”

The brother was troubled.

“I did not strike anyone.”

The elder said,

“You struck your brother with your tongue.”

Silence fell between them.

The elder continued,

“A man may fast.

He may keep vigil.

He may pray the Psalms all night.

But if he speaks against his brother, he destroys everything.”

The brother asked,

“Even if what he says is true?”

The elder said,

“Truth spoken without love is a knife.”

The brother lowered his head.

“What then is condemnation?”

The elder replied,

“When a man sees the sin of his brother and says in his heart,

‘I know what this man is.’”

The elder struck the ground with his staff.

“Only God knows what a man is.”

Silence.

The brother spoke again,

“Father, sometimes others speak against a brother in my presence. What should I do?”

The elder said,

“Close the door.”

The brother did not understand.

The elder explained,

“Close the door of your ears.”

“If you listen, the fire enters you.”

The brother said,

“And if I agree with them?”

The elder said,

“Then you have lit the fire yourself.”

The brother trembled.

The elder said,

“Many think the sin is speaking.”

“It begins earlier.”

“It begins when the heart enjoys hearing evil.”

The brother whispered,

“Why is this sin so grave?”

The elder said,

“Because the man who condemns his brother leaves the place of the sinner and sits in the place of God.”

The elder looked at him sharply.

“And God does not share His throne.”

A long silence passed.

The brother said,

“What must I do if someone begins to malign another?”

The elder replied,

“Say this:

‘I am worse than he. I cannot judge anyone.’”

“In this way you save your soul.”

The brother said,

“And if I have already spoken evil?”

The elder said,

“Go to your brother.

Bow to the ground.

Say, ‘Forgive me. I have killed you with my tongue.’”

The brother lifted his eyes.

“Is it truly so serious?”

The elder said,

“The serpent expelled Eve from Paradise with a whisper.”

Silence returned.

Then the elder spoke one final word.

“If you wish to know whether the grace of God lives in you, watch your mouth.”

“The mouth that blesses is alive.”

“The mouth that condemns is already dead.”