БОДРСТВОВАНИЕ

Darkness, hellish darkness is constantly increasing to darken the lamps of our souls. We need constant attention to ourselves, vigilance over ourselves, we need love for the truth of God, for the commandments of God, the fulfillment of which consists of our eternal life, our tranquility, our honor and glory - even here on earth - and the fulfillment of which reveals our love for God (8). All sorts of dangers for living according to God await me in this life: if I eat something extra - my spirit becomes coarse and grows colder towards God, if I sleep an extra hour - the same, if I take on any momentary carnal and earthly addiction - I immediately fall away from God, if I read secular books and newspapers with enthusiasm - again I grow cold towards God and towards heaven - and everywhere and from everything there is a danger for my spiritual life. My soul is so subtle and sensitive to everything, and so conveniently it can cleave to the world, and so quickly and conveniently it can grow cold towards God and fall away from the one thing needed. Stay awake and pay attention to yourself, O man, at all times and guard your heart with all care. Remember the prophet and the king who said: What is in heaven for me? And without You, what do I want on earth? My heart and my flesh are faint. God of my heart and my portion, God, forever! ( Ps. 72:25, 26 ) (10). Look: the disembodied enemy, the evil one, does not sleep, he is constantly doing his work, the work of your delusion and destruction, in you and trying to turn your soul away from God with all kinds of charms: now fornication, now for selfishness, now for vainglory, now with pride or envy, or with gluttony and drunkenness, now with laziness and inaction, now with reading empty books or only secular ones, not allowing you to read books, teaching faith and piety and one need. The enemy constantly tries to rob the soul with a wide variety of vanities and delights. Stay awake and do not indulge in sinful slumber. Remember that God alone is the object of the desires of our hearts (10). You might be interested in: