25. Мысли в праздник Крещения Господня. Сокровенное действие благодати, получаемой нами в таинстве Крещения

I want to share with you the thoughts that came to me for you at the Epiphany of the Lord. I was just about to ask you a question: what do you think about your baptism? Is it a simple rank or does it give you something? But then I thought it was much better to decide this myself. And I decide. Baptism gives us something that nothing else on earth except it can give us. It combines and dissolves divine grace with our nature, so that a person emerges from the baptismal font the same way as any product emerges from a workshop, for example a bell, in which silver has been poured onto copper. A similar copper bell without silver looks the same as this one with silver, but their composition is different, their sound is different, their honor and price are different. This is how the difference between a baptized and an unbaptized person differs. This difference is that the grace of the Holy Spirit is combined with the baptized, since the one baptized with water is baptized at the same time with the Holy Spirit. In appearance, he is the same person as the unbaptized one, but in reality - in his composition - they are different, and very different. Thus, in Holy Baptism, a new element, the supernatural, is added to our natural composition, and remains hidden and secretly active in us. We receive baptism in infancy, and although we do not know what is happening to us, grace nevertheless combines with us and then begins to act in us, apart from our consciousness, by the sole goodness of God, faith for the sake of our recipients and parents. Coming to age, we cannot clearly distinguish in ourselves what is in us from nature and what is from grace, which, having been in us since baptism, did not remain idle, but acted in its own way. But in the first times, when those of age were brought to faith and baptized, the action of grace was revealed in them immediately, both perceptibly for them and visible for others. The changes in character and life were especially striking, when, for example, an angry person became meek, a proud person became humble, a stingy person became generous, a libertine became chaste, and so on. Something similar probably happened to us in the baptismal font. Having come to age and seeing the good sides in ourselves, we often become vain about this, or others about us, attributing it to ourselves, while all the good that is in us must be attributed to the grace of God, which remakes everything natural in us, and gives much directly from itself. Grace acts in us secretly from childhood. It is renewed in us by the communion of the Holy Mysteries of the Body and Blood; The environment in which we grow up, if it is religious and pious, gives scope for its action in us through Christian education. And what we emerge from childhood and adolescence under these conditions is not at all the same as those who are not baptized. I believe that you are pleased to accept the thought and faith that you are blessed. And do not deny, but rather thank. Grace acts in secret, but often it breaks through into reality, in holy impulses and deeds. If you rub yourself more often, walking in Christian order, you will experience the effect of grace more often. There is fire in the tree, but it is hidden. Start rubbing wood against wood - smoke will come out, and then fire will appear. There is electricity in amber and sealing wax, but it is not visible that way. Rub it - and it will immediately be revealed by the attraction of some small particles and even a spark. So the telegraph is silent, but as soon as the machine begins to produce friction, electricity immediately awakens, and you see how quickly it acts. So you see, blessed daughter of God, what’s the matter! You need to rub yourself, walking in Christian order, and the grace of God will constantly manifest its vitality in you. There are electric suns. Why? A lot of electricity is excited through known devices and is maintained in this excitement. I wish you, too, to become a self-luminous sun under the influence of the grace given to you and existing in you. So again we come to the same point: that there is no need to feel sorry for yourself - otherwise you should cut or rub. Otherwise, nothing will come of you and me in the spiritual sense, even though we will be very beautiful to look at. You might be interested in: