Daily Spiritual Exercises

Our purpose here is salvation of the soul. We are passionate about this and it makes perfect sense. Εγκράτεια, one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, is the agent by which we channel our passions, we focus all of our energy on the salvation of the soul.

Εγκράτεια means holding within, self-control; another word for self-control is discipline. Discipline also comes from the word for student, disciple, or learner.

Jesus said (Jn 8:31), if you stay within, hold to, my teaching, my Word (Λόγος), then you are truly my disciple.

We maintain self-control, then, to study the Word, Λόγος, so as to be able to pursue also the other fruits of the Holy Spirit, a chain of interlinked molecules, so to speak, including faith, that together form the eternal life of the soul.

Faith decides the matter; faith is how we feel in our hearts. This is what we must have the discipline to work on, a weak and dark heart to make it strong and full of light, full of faith.

Did you fill your heart with faith? Did you love your neighbor?

This will decide the matter between life and death, and the Word of God makes a difference … He sent His Word and healed them.

The forgiveness of sins, being bent out of shape and losing focus, means that, through the grace of God, we can get back on the right path in our pursuit of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, we can change our minds, restructure the “molecule”. But doing so requires commitment, hard work, and sacrifice.

The Lord, in His infinite wisdom, is not going to let us rest complacently in the faith for too long. We must keep working at the faith, making real sacrifices to make progress in the faith, until we come into the true Faith, the true sacrifice, as the day of Jesus Christ, and so finally into His Eternal Rest, which is really no rest at all, but Eternal creative energy in motion … hovering … woo, woo, woo … still, silent, and strong.

So the Covenant, the Διαθήκη, is like a plateau, a temporary resting place. We must periodically renew the Covenant, make the sacrifice of our temporary rest, and reach a new plateau, a new level of faith, a new Covenant, and so on.

Ultimately, I wish to be buried in a field of faith, thereby rising again in body and spirit, for faith is the fertilizer, the substance of the living life, faith is the agent by which we communicate with God, and εγκράτεια is the agent by which we focus all of our energy on faith.

Therefore, even as Saint Paul illustrated on several occasions (1Cor 9:25), like the athlete must train and practice through drills and exercises, as a student, disciple or learner, so we too must practice staying focused on the pure and strait Word also through daily spiritual exercises, through study of the Word.

 

The Mystery Of Creation

(Based on 1 Peter)

Salvation of the soul is of supreme importance (thus salvation history). Salvation comes through faith in God and willing obedience to His Word. We discover His Word through grace.

Working against this process is dissipation of the soul through dissolute living, turning away from God and His Word, rejecting grace.

Thus a huge challenge (trials, temptations) is to maintain sobriety, in every form, and channel the passions to faith and obedience to God’s Word.

Now, why God created humanity and faced him with this challenge to begin with is a great mystery, though we try to explain by saying that a saved soul is a reflection of the glory of God.

 

Morality And Faith

(based on the Epistle of James)

God did not create us to willow away and die in sin, but to be fruitful - and not only fruitful -, to be among the first-fruits of His creation.

God gave us the will-power to dominate our own passions and use them in pursuit of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Whether we are close to God in holiness or removed from God by the barrier of sin depends on our own free will, through Jesus Christ.

The perfect man is capable of controlling his whole body. If a man does not maintain discipline over even the smallest of the earthly passions, innocuous as it may seem, it could not only set aflame the whole body, but consume the soul in the ensuing fire. A man can use his body to bless and to curse, to pursue the works of the Holy Spirit and to pursue the works of the flesh.

Indeed, the spiritual battle unfolds in the willingness and power of the soul to master the relationship between the body and the rest of creation. The loser allows his will-power to be dispersed aimlessly through the uncontrolled members of the body, the winner focuses the energy of his mind and body on the most important pursuit of all: the soul’s relationship with the Holy Spirit.

This is what we should be seeking, what we should be asking for: passion and discipline working together in the pursuit of the relationship with the Holy Spirit.

And that is why the Apostle James writes “obey God”, obey His statutes and the teachings of Jesus, resist the devil and the devil will flee from you, draw near to God and God will draw near to you. Wash your hands, purify your heart, harness the energy of mind and body under the direction of the soul in the pursuit of one goal.

Therefore, if you lack perfection in pursuit of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, ask of the Lord what is lacking. But do so with unshakable faith: we do not achieve perfection in doubt, duplicity, and instability.

In faith, then, listen to the Word, keep the passions in check. Cast aside all impurities and runaway passion in gentleness and humility so as to nurture the Word implanted within you that gives eternal life to your soul: tend the garden, be the worker in the vineyard, dig out the weeds, so that the seed can grow and produce fruit.

Be patient, then, like the farmer waiting for the autumn rain in the planting season - strengthen your heart - and the late rain in the season of the harvest - produce fruit.

Put in another way, the goal is to achieve complete personhood, from genesis to eternal life of the soul. Listening to the word as passive entertainment or studying the word as a self-indulgent intellectual exercise is self-deception. The doer is the true poet: keep the passions in check, listen to the Word, study the Word, and put it into practice. This is the law of freedom in Jesus Christ which allows us to produce the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

 

Gentless And Humility, Kindness And Mercy

(Mt 5:5, Mt 11:25-30, Mt 21:5, Lk 6:35, Ja 1:21, Ja 3:13, 1Pe 2:3, 1Pe 3:16, Ro 11:22, 1Cor 13:4, 2Cor 6:6, 2Cor 10:1, Eph 2:7, Eph 4:2, Eph 4:32, Col 3:12, 1Tim 6:4, 2Tim 2:25, Titus 3:2-4)

Gentleness and humility, kindness and mercy, are attributes of God, among the fruits of the Holy Spirit, the pursuit of and perfection in which make men - created in the image and likeness of God - sons of God and heirs worthy of eternal life.

So put into practice the teachings of Jesus, learn from the Lord kindness and humility of heart; this is the lighter and more merciful load than that of any other teaching and idolatry, and you will learn to be light of soul, kind, humble, gentle, merciful, and again, worthy of eternal life.

The Lord himself is kind and merciful, with the kindness and mercy that are eminences of His life-giving love.

The Lord is kind and merciful even to the ungrateful and evil, for it is God’s gift of grace, by His love through Christ, that saves us in faith. Therefore, love even your enemies, the idolaters, because they may receive the same grace of God and change their minds. For God through His kindness and mercy saves the faithful, regardless of their past, purifying their hearts so that we may be heirs of the hope of eternal life.

Gentleness and humility, kindness and mercy, then, are key to putting aside idolatry, to removing impurity, to focusing on the Word and the teaching of God, even subduing knowledge and wisdom to this purpose.

So remember in your dealings with your fellow men, that you too once pursued the works of the flesh, you too were an idolater. Forgive them as Christ forgave you. Be kind to everyone, treat and educate idolaters and those who miss the mark with all gentleness and humility, so that they too may change their minds and accept that same grace of God that saves you.

 

Faith And Wisdom

James 1:3-4

Patience, deep-rooted stability, is the necessary quality for faith to complete the work of a tested, unwavering soul, standing on its own regardless of the vagaries of creation, as God commands.

 

The Promise Of The Lord’s Coming

2Pe 3:1-18

Doubters and atheists and revelers want proof of God’s presence and significance, and yet they take no lesson in the miracles, the prophets, and the calamities of history.

We alone as human beings, as we are, as we shape our own will on our own, cannot bring justice to our lives, individually or collectively. However, we can try, we have the teachings and commands of the fathers, the prophets, and Christ, the messengers and Son of God on earth, and we have the promise of the new heaven and the new earth. And we have a role to play in preparing the way towards the new heaven and the new earth because our behavior and the shape of our will contribute, in one way or another, to the shape of the new heaven and the new earth. It is in this attempt, based on faith, that we can go as far as possible in bringing justice to our lives.

The creation unfolds and God has His reasons. In the midst of it all, His will for souls, endowed with their own free will, is that they remain at peace and virtuous, reflecting His glory. He understands how souls, endowed with their own free will, may interact with the vagaries of creation, but He has patience - a watch in the night, a day, a thousand years or ten thousand years - that souls may deeply root themselves in peace, justice, virtue and love, and one of the things that He asks of us is patience in achieving these very goals, in achieving a harmony of wills, so that we may be as shining stars, a positive element, as co-workers of God, as the creation unfolds, as, through water and fire, the new heaven and the new earth are firmly put into place, as God sees fit.

 

The Christian Call And Election

2Pe 1:6

Men, because of their unwillingness to make the effort to purify their heart’s eye, are short-sighted, even blind.

But God calls us to His glory and virtue, and we can attain it, first of all, by having faith and by shunning the corrupt passions of the world.

Patience in this case, then, is a link in a chain of qualities that leads from faith to love, a soul, independent of the vagaries of creation, a soul effective and fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, reflecting God’s glory and goodness.

We need to be reminded of this again and again.

 

Suffering For Rightousness Sake

1Pe 3:20

Just as God is patient with the disobedient, and then allows them to purify their consciouses with the waters of baptism, so we too must be zealous for the good, for righteousness, even in the face of the wrong, in the face of injustice … with gentleness and respect, so that those who insult our good conduct in Christ may be put to shame for their insults.

Patience is maintaining faith, in a spirit of goodness and gentleness, just as God is patient with the disobedient and gives them a chance to purify their hearts.

 

Signs And Persecutions

Lk 21:19

Patience is deeply-rooted stable faith, even in the face of adversity and injustice, on which basis you will be the master of your soul.

Such souls, then, can reproduce the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

 

Parable Of The Widow And The Judge

Lk 18:1-7

The unjust judge, who had no patience for his fellows, finally did justice for the insistent supplicant.

Imagine what God will do for His chosen ones, for whom He has patience, by virtue of their insistent prayers.

God is patient and He will wait for you to do justice for yourself; then, by virtue of your prayer, He will quickly do justice for you.

Or again, the Lord is patient and does right by us. We have to set our prayers aright, and the Lord will listen to us and make haste to give us what is right.

Right prayer is strongly and deeply rooted in faith. Patience, then, is faithfully waiting for justice, God, waiting for you to set your heart aright, and you likewise for God.

Through the fruits of the Holy Spirit, God and man, in a way, meet each other on equal terms, eyeball to eyeball.

We cannot separate the fruits of the Holy Spirit; they are chained together, as if one molecule.