РАДОСТЬ ДУХОВНАЯ

1. About joy on the feast of the Resurrection of Christ I also greet you on the bright holiday of the Resurrection of Christ. May you experience spiritual joy, which, however, does not depend on words or desires. Having tasted the power of resurrection before this resurrection, only they truly rejoice in the Resurrection of Christ. Their flesh has died, and they live in the spirit. How can we, carnal ones, rejoice in true joy (3, p. 63)? 2. About the providential taking away of spiritual consolations The Lord sometimes tests the sincerity of serving Him, taking away the spiritual consolations that accompany spiritual exercises. And when he sees that the soul, deprived of these consolations, without sparing itself, serves Him diligently, he returns those consolations to her. The elders say that one should not become addicted to these consolations or consider them an inalienable asset of one’s labors, but surrender them to the will of God - accept them when the Lord gives them, and endure their deprivation when He takes them away” (6, p. 109). 3. Where do joy and sadness come from in the heart? No one has the power to control the heart. It lives a special life. In itself it rejoices, in itself it saddens. And there's nothing you can do about it. Only the Lord of all, who contains everything in His right hand, has the power to enter into it and put feelings into it, without regard to the natural course of its changes (8, p. 11). You might be interested in: