Поучение 44. В среду сырной недели. О том, что мы должны помнить благодеяния Божии и стараться всегда благоугождать Ему.

Brothers and Fathers! It is by the grace and love of God that we have been vouchsafed this summer to reach these days, which serve, as it were, on the eve of the Holy Pentecost. And therefore we must abandon all laziness and negligence, and with great zeal take up the feat of our salvation. We have had enough of the time we have spent in laziness and pleasing our flesh; Enough are the days that we have lived uselessly, in carnal neglect and sterility of Divine virtues. Let us at least now renew the church of our soul, imagining in our minds what kind of love and patience the philanthropic Lord has for us. Let us remember the countless gifts and blessings that He has created for us and continues to do every day. For what mind or what human tongue can worthily confess God's benefits and gifts? No. Look, beloved brethren, and see with the eye of your soul, that is, with your mind, and then you will know the great love that God has for us, and the great honor with which He has honored the human race. For before He created man, He created the world, and adorned it with such wonderful and wondrous splendor for his enjoyment and service. And after all, he created man himself and made him king, so that he would possess all the animals, earthly, sea and heavenly, that is, the air, just as the Prophet glorifies Him: “Thou hast subdued all things under his nose” (Ps. 8:7), as if to say: “Thou, O Master who loves mankind, has subdued all creation and all creatures under the power of man.” He created us in His image and likeness, and gave us a natural mind to distinguish good from evil. And we, as ungrateful and unreasonable, transgressed His holy commandment and moved away from Him, but He again, like a good-hearted one, came to seek us; and not only that, but He also endured a blasphemous and unrighteous death for us, redeemed us with His honest blood from the enslavement of the devil and from eternal torment, and elevated us to heaven, to our former fatherland, i.e. to the kingdom of heaven, where He Himself resides. Oh, what great grace He has given us! He also granted holy baptism, which frees us from all sin, and even more: if anyone defiles it with sins, he gave us again repentance and confession to cleanse and enlighten it, as it was before. Finally, for keeping His commandments, He prepared for us bliss, an eternal inheritance, unspeakable joy and those blessings, “which, as the Apostle puts it, the eye of man has not seen... the ear has not heard, and the mind has not thought, what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9). Oh, what bliss Christ has vouchsafed to man! In addition to all this, let us also think with our minds how many times we were subjected to mental and physical disasters, and the Lord Himself delivered us from them. How many times have we obeyed the crafty demons, and fulfilled the will of their father the devil, but transgressed the will of God; and He again did not leave us to the reproach of demons, but preserved us from them, nourished and preserved our lives, long-suffering and waiting day by day for our repentance and turning to Him. And most of all, He put in us the desire for a monastic image and love for the ascetic life, and prompted our hearts to hate the world and its delights, to leave our homeland, relatives, friends, and vouchsafed us to come to the holy squad of this good brotherhood. Let us also imagine in our minds that although we have done nothing good before God and have even been subjected to countless sins, He still loves us and protects us from all evil; if we want to repent before Him with all our hearts and work in spiritual endeavors in order to please Him, then how many blessings and how many spiritual gifts He will give us, and how He will strengthen us and help us on the path of virtue! Thus, brethren, let us remember this day and night, let us always meditate on God’s gifts, blessings and gifts, and let us continually cry out with the Prophet David, saying: “What shall we repay the Lord for all that he has repaid us?” (Ps.115:3). As another Prophet says: and who am I, my Lord Lord? And which is the house of my father, because thou hast loved me? For when we think about this, love for God who created us will kindle in us, and we will force ourselves to fulfill His holy commandments, so as not to sadden our benefactor God. Then He will give us His grace even more and His help to please Him to the end, for the glorification and honor of His holy Name. For to Him belongs all glory, honor and worship forever. Amen. You might be interested in: