Ручная книжка

1. About the wondrous being of God You, Lord, fill heaven and earth, carry everything without burden and fill everything without including Yourself. You are always active, but always calm; you collect without demanding anything; you seek, having everything with yourself; you love, but are not jealous; you change things, but don’t break the plan; you accept everything you find, but you lose nothing; Everything is enough for You, but you rejoice in profit; not at all money-loving, but you demand growth; you give to someone you shouldn’t, or they give to you so that you will constantly be a debtor. Who has anything that is not yours? You repay debts without being indebted to anyone; You forgive debts, but do not lose anything, You are everywhere - and everywhere; You can be felt, but you cannot be seen; You are present everywhere, but far from wicked thoughts. You are present everywhere, but you cannot be found. You hold everything, fill everything, embrace everything, rise above everything and carry everything. You admonish the hearts of the faithful without voice or words and have neither increase nor decrease. You live in an unapproachable light, which no man has ever seen. In Yourself You are calm, you surround everything and everywhere, since You cannot be fragmented, because You are one; You hold everything, fill everything, enlighten everything, possess everything. 2. About the ineffable omniscience of God Even if the whole world were filled with books, Your ineffable omniscience cannot be expressed. Due to the fact that You are ineffable, You cannot be described in any way. You are the source of divine light and the sun of eternal glory; You are immeasurable, You are truly good, and no one is good except You; Your will is already an action, Your desire is an opportunity. You created everything created from nothing by one will; You own all creatures without coercion, you rule without labor, you put them in order without boredom - and nothing, either above or below, can shake Your order. You are not the author of evil because you cannot do it; By your goodness we were created, punished by justice and saved by mercy; Your omnipotence governs and disposes of all creatures, and You fill them all. Not because You fill everything, as if everything contains You, but because everything is supported by You. You are all in everyone, and everything is in You. With Your omnipotence You embrace everything, and no one can escape Your dominion, because whoever does not have You merciful to himself cannot in any way escape You, who is angry. 3. About the soul's desire for God I call You, merciful God, into my soul, which You, in accordance with the desire inspired by You, prepare to receive You. Enter, I pray Thee, into it and make it worthy of Thy dwelling in it; rule over that which You created and renewed. I ask You, O Merciful One, do not abandon me, who calls you, because You Yourself, before my call, called and found me, so that I, Your servant, would seek You, seek and find, and having found, love. I sought and found You, Lord, and I desire to love You. Multiply my desire and give me what I ask. Grant me Yourself, my God; I love You, and if it’s not enough, let me love you more! Feeling love for You, I burn with desire for You and enjoy the sweet remembrance of You. While my thought deepens into You and reflects on Your ineffable love, the very heaviness of the flesh does not burden me, the agitation of my thoughts disappears, the burden of deadness and calamity does not disturb me as usual - everything has calmed down, everything is calm. The heart is on fire, the spirit is rejoicing, the memory is in full bloom, the mind is bright, and the soul is burning with the desire to see You. Oh, that my spirit would receive the wings of an eagle, and soar, and not weaken, and fly to the splendor of Your house, to the throne of Your glory, and there, at the table of joy of the inhabitants of heaven, I was satisfied with Your hidden [goods], in a green place, by deep springs! You, our hope, salvation and deliverance, be Yourself our joy; be our joy, You who will be our reward. Let my soul continually seek You, and make sure that, while seeking You, it does not weaken. 4. About the poverty of the soul that does not love and does not seek our Lord Jesus Christ Woe to the poor soul who does not seek and does not love Christ: she remains poor and unhappy. The one who does not love You, God, destroys life; nothing - the one who tries to live not for You, Lord; The one who does not want to live for You is dead; he is mad; who does not philosophize with You. I surrender myself to You, by Whom I exist, live and think; I hope and place all my hope in You, by Whom I will rise, come to life and rest; I love and worship You, [with] Whom I will reign and become blessed. A soul that does not seek or love You, loves the world, subservient to sin, serves vice, is never calm, but is always in fear and danger. May my spirit rest in You, O God, may my mind contemplate You in admiration; I will sing in Your praise, and this will be my consolation in my imprisonment. May my thoughts withdraw from thoughts of this world under the shadow of Your wings, may my heart rejoice in You. O inexhaustible source of all blessings, generous giver of heavenly pleasure, God, give food to the faint of hunger, gather the scattered, free the captive and heal the wounded. I pray to You, Source of bounties with which You, the East, visited us: command the poor one who knocks on Your door to open it, so that he may enter and enjoy You, the heavenly bread, because You are food and life, the light of eternal glory, everything by which the righteous who love You live. 5. The spiritual desire of a Christian God, the light of hearts captivated by You, the life of souls who love You, and the power of thoughts that seek You, let me cling to Your love. Come, I pray to You, into my heart and fill it with the abundance of Your sweetness, so that it forgets everything temporary. I'm ashamed and I don't want to tolerate what the world does. Sorrow brings me what I see; What annoys me is what I hear about the passing [events] of this world. Help me, O Lord my God, and make me glad that you will dwell in my heart. The house of my soul is small, but enter it and it will spread; it is completely ruined - renew it; there is much in it that offends Your eyes [I confess this and know it] - but who will cleanse it or to whom else can I exclaim: “Cleanse me from my secrets and keep Your servant from plotting” (Ps. 19:13-14). Sweetest Jesus Christ, grant that I, loving You and inflamed with desire for You, lay down the burden of carnal lusts and earthly lusts. May Thy grace rule my body, my mind, my mind, and subjugate all of me inside and outside to Thy will. Grant to me that my heart, my tongue, and all my bones may praise You; Expand my thought and elevate my spiritual vision, so that even with a brief thought it touches You, the eternal wisdom that abides above all. Release me, I beg, from the shackles with which I am bound, so that, leaving everything earthly, I serve You, cleave to You alone and listen to You alone. 6. About the bliss of the soul freed from earthly prison Blessed is that soul which, freed from earthly prison, ascends to heaven and sees You, the sweetest Lord, face to face. She is not struck with fear, but rejoices in the imperishability of eternal glory; she is calm and safe and is not afraid of either the enemy or death. She received You, the good Lord, Whom she had been looking for for a long time and always loved. She, united with the choir of singers, sings throughout all eternity the sweet songs of eternal triumph in praise of Thy glory, O good King, Jesus Christ, for she is intoxicated with the flow of sweetness from the abundance of Thy house. Blessed is the host of celestial beings, and glorious is the triumph of all who ascend from this arduous journey of ours to You, to the greatness of splendor, to the beauty of glory. There, Lord, the inhabitants of Your city constantly see You; and there is nothing there that would confuse the thought. What exclamations, what sweet songs are sung there endlessly! There is constantly heard the sound of praise, and the sweet voices of angels, and wonderful songs of songs, which are sung by the inhabitants of heaven to Your praise and glory. Bitterness and acute sadness have no place in Your country, because there is no evil, no enemy, no sinful deception. There is no need there, no disorder, no quarrel, no ridicule, no accusation, no fear, no anxiety, no punishment, no doubt, no violence, no discord - but the greatest peace and silence, perfect love, eternal praise to God, eternally unbroken peace and constant joy in the Holy Spirit. Oh, how happy I will be if I hear the sweet-voiced singing of the celestials, praising the highest Trinity! I will be immensely blessed if I myself am worthy to sing a song to the Lord Jesus Christ from the sweet songs of Zion. 7. About the joy of heavenly life Oh, life-giving life, eternal and ever-blessed life, where is joy without sorrow, peace without labor, honor without danger, wealth without loss, health without illness, abundance without lack, life without death, eternity without corruption, bliss without disaster, where are all the blessings, where is contemplation face to face, where is the complete knowledge of everything, where is the highest God's goodness and unfading light, where is the greatness of God. The thoughts of the celestials there are saturated with all this. They constantly see all this and constantly want to see it. There, the true Sun of Truth delights everyone with the wonderful sight of His beauty and so illuminates all the inhabitants of heaven that they themselves shine, become light, enlightened by God’s light, which shines stronger than the present sunshine and the brilliance of all the stars. Having united with the immortal Deity, they themselves became immortal and incorruptible, according to the Savior’s promise: “Father! whom You have given Me, I want them to be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory” (John 17:24). “Let them all be one; as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You” (John 17:21), and they may be one in Us. The kingdom of heaven, blissful, has neither destruction nor end and is not subject to changes of time - where there is an uninterrupted day, where the victorious warrior is pleased with indescribable honors for his deeds, where virtue is crowned with a crown of eternal glory! Oh, if I, the last servant of Christ, would be pleased by the goodness of God, having left all sins, lay aside the burden of the flesh, - so that I would move into the eternal abodes of God, filled with joy, enter there joyfully, join the heavenly choirs of saints, appear with the most blessed spirits before the throne of glory of the Creator and see the face of God - moreover, I would not be amazed by the slightest fear of death, I would rejoice in incorruption eternal immortality and, uniting with the Omniscient, would be freed from the darkness of ignorance, despise everything earthly, and would never want to look at this deplorable vale, and would not want to remember it. Here is a life that is laborious, subject to decay, filled with all kinds of bitterness, surrounded by evil, serving hell - a life that excesses puff up, illnesses exhaust, the air contaminates, food fattens, fasting dries up, fun relaxes, sorrows tear apart, worries crowd in, security spoils, wealth exalts, poverty overthrows, youth exalts, old age bends, illness crushes, grief is overwhelming. Here the devil attacks, the world flatters, the flesh seduces, the soul is blinded and man is confused. And then merciless death comes, and all vain pleasures cease, so that later it seems as if they never happened. 9. About the consolation of God in sorrow What praise or what gratitude can we bring to You, our God, for the fact that in our sorrows and sorrows You do not cease to console us with the wonderful visitation of Your grace! Here I am, unfortunate, burdened with many sorrows - when I fear the end of my life, discuss my sins, fear Your judgment, reflect on the hour of death, tremble at the torments of hell, I don’t know with what test and severity my deeds will be judged by You, I don’t even know how I will finish them. While I am thinking about many similar things, You, Lord God, according to Your usual compassion, appear with consolation in the midst of these unrest, in the midst of crying and deep heartfelt sighs, You raise my sad and sorrowful thought above the mountain peaks and place me in a place of pasture, by springs of sweet waters, where You offer before me various meals that would sweeten my weary spirit and cheered the weeping heart. And I, having forgotten my misfortunes and being elevated above earthly heights, rest in You, true peace. 10. About the sweetness of love for God I love You, my God, I love You and I wish to love You immensely. Lord, “You are more beautiful than the sons of men” (Ps. 44:3). Grant that I may desire and love You as much as I desire and as much as I owe. You are immeasurable, and You should be loved immeasurably, especially by us, whom You have loved, saved and for whom You have done so much. O love, ever burning and never extinguished! Sweetest Jesus, good Christ, my God! Inflame me all with Thy fire, Thy love, Thy desire, Thy goodness, consolation and desire of Thy holy, immaculate, pure and good - so that I, completely filled with the sweetness of Thy love, blazing with the flame of love for You, love You, Lord, with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my strength, with all my aspiration, with all my heart. with contrition and tears, with fear and trembling, having You in my heart, and on my lips, and before my eyes always and everywhere!.. 11. About preparation for the sacrament of communion Jesus Christ, I beg You by the outpouring of Your most holy Blood, by which we have been redeemed: grant me contrition of heart and a source of tears - when I offer You prayers, when I perform the mystery of our redemption, a clear remembrance of Your work of mercy, when I stand before the sacred altar, although unworthy, desiring to offer You a terrible, heavenly sacrifice, worthy of all honor and reverence, which You, Lord my God, immaculate High Priest, established and commanded to bring in remembrance of Your love, that is, suffering and death for our salvation - in the daily strengthening of our weakness. May my thought at such a great sacrament be strengthened by Your sweetest presence, may it feel You present and rejoice before You, Who [is] an ever-luminous fire, an ever-burning love. Sweetest Jesus, good Christ, eternal and unfading light, bread of life, saturating us and not diminishing in itself, consumed daily, but always remaining whole - appear to me, kindle, enlighten and sanctify Your vessel; cleanse, fill with grace and keep filled, so that for the salvation of my soul I may eat the bread of Your body, because by eating You, I will live from You, I will come to You and rejoice in You. 12. About Divine joy Oh, beloved sweetness and sweet love, may my insides be filled with You and may the word good express my thoughts. You, my God, my Love, make me eat You. You are my life by which I live; The hope to which I cling; The glory I wish to receive. Possess my heart, control my thought, enlighten my mind, elevate my love, attract my soul and open my spirit, thirsting for You, to heavenly sources. I pray that the disturbance of the flesh may subside; let the ideas of earth and water, air and sky disappear; let dreams and phenomena arising from the imagination be silent. Let the soul itself be silent; let her think not about herself, but about You, my God, since You, God, are alone, all my hope, all my hope: for in You, our God and Lord Jesus Christ, the sweetest, most loving and most merciful, there is a part of the flesh and blood of each of us. Therefore, where my part reigns, there, I believe, I reign; Where my flesh is glorified, there I find myself glorified. Although I am a sinner, I trust in this grace-filled unity. 13. Our hope is the Word incarnate I could despair because of my countless sins, vices and crimes that I have committed and do not cease to commit daily with my heart, lips, deeds, in all the ways in which human weakness can sin - if Your Word, my God, had not become flesh and dwelt in us. But I no longer dare to despair, since He was “obedient even to death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8), bore on Himself the handwriting of our sins and, nailing it to the cross, crucified sin and death. And I have found safety in Him, who sits at Your right hand and makes intercession for us. Trusting in Him, I desire to come to You, by Whom we have already been resurrected, and made alive, and ascended into heaven. Praise be to you, glory to you, honor to you, thanksgiving to you. 14. Sweet is contemplation of God Oh, All-Good Lord, who so loved and saved us, revived and exalted us! Merciful Lord, how sweet is the memory of You! The more I think about You, the more I love You. Your blessings delight me in my earthly journey, and while I am in this weak and corruptible body, I constantly strive for Your wonderful beauty and want to reflect on it, because I am wounded by the arrow of love for You, I am burning with desire for You, I strive to come to You and want to see You. Therefore, I will stand on guard and, while awake, I will sing in spirit, in thought and with all my strength to You, my Creator and Renewer. In thought I will ascend to heaven and in desire I will be with You - so that, although with my body I will be in a present distress, I will always be with You in thought, inclination and desire - and my heart will be where You are, my longed for and incomparable treasure. But now, my Most Gracious and Most Merciful God, when I want to talk about the glory of Your immeasurable goodness, my mind is not sufficient for this; for Thy power, Thy glory, Thy splendor, Thy greatness and Thy love surpasses every concept of human reason. Just as the light of Your glory is incomprehensible, so inexpressible is the humanity of Your eternal love, with which You make those created by You out of nothing into sons and unite them with Yourself. 15. One must even desire disasters in earthly life for the sake of future bliss with Christ Oh, my soul! If it were necessary to endure torment every day and even endure the very torment of Gehenna for a long time in order to see Christ in His glory and unite with His saints, then would it not be necessary to endure all sorrow in order for us to be participants in such well-being and such glory? Therefore, let the demons plot their intrigues, let fasting depress the body, clothing burden the flesh, labor weigh down, wakefulness dry up, let this one revile me, let this one and that one bother me, let the cold chill, let the mind reproach, let the heat burn, let the head split, let the chest burn, let me be all weak, let my face turn pale, let my life become exhausted and Let my years faint in sighing, let rottenness enter my bones - if only I could rest in the day of sorrow and enter into the countenance of the triumphant! For what will be the glory of the righteous! How great is the joy of the saints when every face shines like the sun; when, having divided the faces, the Lord in the kingdom of His Father begins to call His people and, according to the deeds and merits of each, as He promised, He will reward earthly things with heavenly things, for temporary things with eternal things, and for small things with great things! Truly there will be a confluence of prosperity when the Lord brings His saints into a vision of the glory of the Fathers and places them in heavenly abodes, and He will be all in all. 16. How can you receive the kingdom of heaven? Oh, blessed sweetness and sweet bliss to see the saints, to be with the saints and to be holy, to see God, to have God forever! This is something we must think about carefully and constantly, this is what we desire with all our desire, so that we can achieve this. If you ask how this can be or by what merits and in what way, hear: it is in the will of the doer; for the kingdom of heaven is achieved with effort. Kingdom of heaven, oh man! does not require any other price than you; it's worth as much as you are. Give yourself and you will receive it. Why are you worried about the price? Christ gave Himself up in order to gain you into the kingdom of God and the Father: so give yourself, so that you may be His kingdom, and may sin not reign in your dead body, but the spirit to gain life. Oh, my soul! Let us return to the city of heaven, in which we are written and defined as inhabitants. As cohabitants of the saints and close to God and as heirs of God and joint heirs of Christ, let us think about the glorious bliss of our city, as much as we can think about it. Therefore, let’s say with the prophet, “glorious things are proclaimed about you, city of God” (Ps. 86:3): those who sing and play, “all the springs are in you” (Ps. 86:7). There is neither oldness nor decrepitude in you; there is neither armless, nor lame, nor hunchbacked, nor ugly; since all come “to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). What is more blessed than this life, where there is neither fear of poverty nor painful weakness? No one is offended, no one is angry, no one is jealous, no lust arises, no desire arises for food, no honor or power is touched by arrogance, there is no horror from the devil, no attacks and snares of demons. The fear of Gehenna is removed; there is no death, neither physical nor mental, but immortality, but life; there will be no misfortunes, no discord anywhere, but all peace; since there will be agreement among all the saints; Everywhere peace and joy reign, everything is calm and quiet. The everlasting radiance is not the same as what we see now, but it is as much brighter as it is more blissful; for that city has no need of the sun or the moon, but the Lord Almighty will give it light and the Lamb will be its lamp; there the saints will shine like stars in endless eternity and like a rainbow in the sky. Therefore, there will be no night, no darkness, no gathering of clouds, no cold, no heat, but such a well-dissolved air, such as no one’s eye has seen, no one’s ear has heard, and has not entered into the heart of any person, except those who are worthy to enjoy it, whose names are written in the book of life. But more important than this is to unite with the choirs of angels and archangels and all the heavenly powers, to see the patriarchs, to see the apostles and all the saints, to see our parents. This is glorious, but most glorious of all is to behold the present face of God and to see the indescribable light. 18. Man cannot repay God for His benefits with anything other than love. The soul, venerable in God's image, adorned with God's likeness, has in itself from God that by which it is always convinced either to be present with Him, or to return to Him, if, being distracted by passions, it moves away from Him. And not only does she have that which makes her reliable in receiving forgiveness and mercy, but also that which gives her the boldness to enter into a friendly union with God, to unite with the King of Angels in sweet love. Love does all this if it is like God, to Whom it is essentially similar in its will, loves as it itself is loved; for love alone, of all spiritual properties, feelings and inclinations, is what a creature can, although not in proportion, correspond to its Creator. Where love is infused, there it attracts and captivates all other inclinations. Love in itself is sufficient, sweet in itself and for its own sake, merit itself, reward itself, reason itself, fruit itself and exercise; since we unite with God through love. Love makes two one spirit. Love first corrects inclinations, then thinks about everything that it has, as if it did not exist at all; thirdly, he looks with the pure vision of the heart at what is above and within. Through love, first everything honorable in the world is accomplished, then all the blessings of this age are despised, and, finally, the very essence of God is contemplated. God the Father is love, God the Son is love, the Holy Spirit is love of the Father and the Son. This love requires something similar from us, that is, love by which, like some kind of blood affinity, we are united with God. Love has no fear. He who loves boldly approaches God and converses with Him in a friendly manner, fearing nothing and not doubting in the least. He who does not love loses what he has; and the one who loves always directs his eyes to God, Whom he loves, Whom he desires, about Whom he meditates, in Whom he delights, in Whom he is satisfied. This God-loving man, whether he sings or reads, is so perspicacious and careful in all his affairs, as if God were always present before his eyes, as in reality he is. Does he pray as if he were lifted up and presented before the face of the majesty of God, sitting on an exalted throne, where thousands of thousands serve Him and darkness stands before Him? The soul that God visits with love awakens the sleeping one; instructs and softens her, wounds her heart; the dark enlightens, the imprisoned opens, the cold heats up, the thought of cruel, prone to anger and impatient humbles, removes vices, tames carnal passions, corrects customs, transforms and renews the soul, shortens movements and actions of fickle age. Love does all this, and when it leaves, the soul begins to cool down, like a boiling cauldron when the fire is taken away from under it. 20. About the hope of a God-loving soul A great thing is love, by which the soul itself boldly approaches God, firmly cleaves to Him, asks in a friendly manner and consults with God in every matter. A soul that loves God does not think about anything but Him, does not speak about anything but Him, despises everything else, abhors everything. Whatever he thinks about, whatever he says, everything is dissolved by love, everything is revealed by love; so the love of God took possession of her! Whoever wants to know God, let him love. It is in vain that he takes up reading, meditation, preaching, and prayer who does not love. The love of God gives birth to the love of the soul and makes it delve into itself. God loves, may He be loved. When he loves, he desires nothing more than to be loved, knowing that those who love Him with love are blessed. A loving soul renounces worldly attachments and gives itself entirely to love alone, so that it can mutually correspond to love. And although all of it will turn into love, what is it in comparison with the eternal source of love? There is a great difference between love and the lover, the soul and God, the Creator and the creature. Let not the soul that loves, let it fear the soul that does not love. A loving soul strives with zeal, is exalted by desires, hides merits, does not look at its own dignity, looks at heavenly pleasure, hoping for salvation. Through love, the soul is distracted from itself and separated from bodily feelings, so that, while sensing God, it does not feel itself. This happens when a thought, intoxicated with inexpressible divine sweetness, in some way steals itself from itself and leaves itself to enjoy God. Love acquires friendship from God, and friendship obtains boldness. The soul that is touched by the love of God cannot think of anything else, desire nothing else, and often sighs, saying: as a deer strives for springs of water, so I strive for You, my God! 21. What did God do for man? God came to people out of love and became a man Himself. Through love the invisible God became like His servants; out of love He was wounded for our iniquities. Safe and firm rest for the weak and sinners in the wounds of the Savior. I dwell in them calmly, through the ulcers I see an abyss of generosity. Everything that I do not have for myself, I borrow from the plagues of my Lord; since bounties flow abundantly and there are ulcers through which they would flow: through bodily ulcers the secrets of the heart are revealed to me, the great sacrament of love is revealed, the abyss of bounties is opened, in which the East visited us from above. The wounds of Jesus Christ are filled with mercy, filled with compassion, filled with sweetness and love. “They pierced His hands and feet” (Ps. 21:17), “with a spear” they pierced “His side” (John 19:34). Through these wounds I can taste how sweet the Lord my God is, how good, long-suffering and abundantly merciful to all who call on Him. Sufficient redemption was given to us in the stripes of Jesus Christ our Savior, a great abundance of sweetness, the fulfillment of grace and the perfection of virtues. 22. Remembrance of the plagues of our Lord Jesus Christ When I am troubled by any obscene thought, I turn to the stripes of Christ; when my flesh oppresses me, I rise in remembrance of the plagues of my Lord; when the devil prepares a snare for me, I resort to the abyss of the bounties of my Lord, and he departs from me; if the heat of lust moves my members, the remembrance of the plagues of our Lord, the Son of God, is extinguished. In all my adversities I have not found such a real healing as the wounds of Christ; through them I sleep without fear and rest without fear. Christ died in the flesh for us. There is nothing so sorrowful even to death that it would not be destroyed by the death of Christ. All my hope is in the death of my Lord. His death is my merit and my refuge, my salvation, life and resurrection: my merit is the generosity of the Lord. I am a participant in merit while He remains the Lord of bounties; and if the Lord’s bounties are many, then I am also much in merit. As much as He is strong in my salvation, so safe am I. 23. Remembering the wounds of Christ is a real cure against all disasters I have sinned gravely and I know many sins behind me, but I do not despair; since where sins have multiplied, grace also abounds; whoever despairs of the forgiveness of his sins does not recognize God as merciful. He who does not trust in His mercy does a great offense to God, somehow: he does not recognize in God the love, truth and power in which all my hope lies, that is, in the love of adoption, in the truth of promise and in the power of redemption. Let him talk as much as he wants, my thought is: who are you? what kind of glory? and by what merit do you hope to receive it? I will boldly answer: I know Who I trusted, with what love He accepted me as a son; for He is righteous in promise, powerful in performance, able to do whatever He wants. I cannot be horrified by the multitude of my sins if the death of the Lord comes to my mind; since my sins cannot defeat Him. The nails and the spear cry out to me that I am truly reconciled to Christ if I love Him. Longinus opened the side of Christ for me with a spear, and I entered into it and rested there safely. He who fears does not love; since love “casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). There is no cure so strong and so effective against the inflammation of lust as the death of my Redeemer. He stretched out His arms and hands on the cross, ready to embrace sinners. In the muscles of my Savior I want to live and I want to die. There I will sing with joy: “I will exalt You, O Lord, because You raised me up and did not allow my enemies to triumph over me” (Ps. 29:2). Our Savior bowed his head in death to give a kiss to His beloved. We kiss God as many times as we lament in His love. 24. Conversation with your soul about love for Christ Oh, my soul, honored in the image of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ, betrothed by faith, gifted by the Spirit, adorned with gifts, numbered with the angels! Love Him by whom you are so beloved; listen to Him who listens to you; seek the One who seeks you; love the One who loves you, by whom you are loved, by whom love is preceded, who is the reason for your love. He is Himself the merit, Himself the reward, Himself the fruit, Himself the pleasure. Be diligent with those who try, considerate with those who care, pure with those who are pure, and righteous with those who are holy. How you appear to God is how God will appear to you: good, meek and abundantly merciful, He requires those who are good, meek, pleasing to God, and humble. Love Him who brought you out of the swamp of poverty and from the filth of iniquity. Choose as a friend, more than all your friends, the One who, at a time when you lose everything, will be the only one who will remain faithful to you. On the day of your burial, when all your companions and friends retreat from you, He alone will not leave you, but will protect you from the demons roaring and ready to devour you, and will lead you through an unfamiliar country, and will lead you into the villages of the mountainous Zion, and there He will seat you with the angels in the face of His greatness, where you will hear the angelic song: “holy, holy, holy!” There are songs of joy, “the voice of joy and salvation” (Ps. 118:15), and thanksgiving, and the voice of praise and hallelujah forever. There is a gathering of prosperity, excellent glory, abundant joy and all good things. Oh, my soul! Sigh with fervor, wish with all your might that you can enter this heavenly city, about which “glorious things are proclaimed” (Ps. 86:3) and in which “all my springs” (Ps. 86:7). With love you can enter. For someone who loves, nothing is difficult, nothing is impossible. A loving soul ascends and flies through the villages of heavenly Jerusalem, visiting patriarchs and prophets, greeting the apostles, marveling at the army of martyrs and confessors and contemplating the choirs of virgins. Heaven and earth and everything that is on them do not cease to tell me to love the Lord my God. 25. Nothing can satisfy the soul except the Highest Good The human heart, unsteady in its desire for eternity, can never be constant, but is more fleeting than anything fleeting, moving from one to another, seeking peace for itself where there is none. And in these fading and transitory things, in which his passions are captive, he cannot find true peace; since it is of such dignity that no good except the highest can satisfy it. It is so free that it cannot be forced into any vice. Therefore, for everyone, their own will is the reason for their condemnation or salvation; and therefore nothing more valuable than good will is offered to God. The good will of God comes to us and directs us to Him; with the good will of God we love, we prefer God, we strive for God, we come to God and possess Him. Oh, good will, by which we are transformed into the likeness of God and become like Him! A good will is so pleasing to God that He does not deign to dwell in a heart that does not have it. Good will bends to itself the Trinity of this highest greatness; for wisdom enlightens her to the knowledge of truth and love inflames her to the desire of goodness. 26. What does the knowledge of truth consist of? What is knowledge of truth? First, knowing yourself; and what you should be, try to be; and what needs correction, correct it. Then you must know and love your Creator; for in Him consists all human well-being. And so look how inexpressible is God’s love for us: He created us from nothing and gave us everything that we have. But since we loved the given more than the Giver, the creature, rather than the Creator, we fell into the snare of the devil and became his slaves. God, prompted by mercy, sent His Son to redeem His servants: He sent the Holy Spirit, Who would make slaves sons to Himself. He gave his Son as the price of redemption, the Holy Spirit for the triumph of love, and finally, he preserves himself as the inheritance of adoption. Thus, God, as the Most Good and Most Merciful, out of ardent love for man, exhausts not only His blessings, but also Himself, in order to return man not so much for Himself, but for man himself. For a person to be born from God, God was first born from him. Who is so hardened, who would not be softened by the love of God, warning man - such a strong love, I say, that He deigned to be man for man? Who can hate a person whom nature and likeness sees in humanity as the God-man? Truly, he who hates him hates God; and thus destroys everything he does; for God became man for the sake of man, in order to be a Redeemer. God, so that He would be more loved by man, would appear in human likeness, and so that both human feelings would be perfected in Him: and the eye of the heart would be renewed in His Divinity and the eye of the body in His humanity, so that both entering and leaving in Himself, the human nature created by Him would find pasture. 27. About the action of the Holy Spirit in us Our Savior was born for us, crucified and died for us, in order to destroy our death by His death. And since the vine of flesh was placed in the vice of the cross and, upon squeezing, the wine of the Divine began to flow from it, the Holy Spirit was sent to prepare the vessels of the heart and to put new wine into new wineskins; first, so that the hearts are cleansed, so that what is poured in is not defiled; and then, so that they are strengthened, so that the poured wine does not perish: they are cleansed from lawless joy and strengthened against vain joy; for good could not come unless evil were removed first. The joy of iniquity defiles and pours out vain joy; the joy of iniquity makes the vessel unclean, and vain joy makes the vessel full of holes. The joy of iniquity occurs when we love sin; but vain joy when we love transitory things. Cast out the evil so that you can receive the good; pour out bitterness so that you may be filled with sweetness. The Holy Spirit is joy and love. Cast out the spirit of the devil and the spirit of this world in order to receive the Spirit of God. The spirit of the devil produces lawless joy, and the spirit of the world produces vain joy. These amusements are evil; since one is a crime, the other is an opportunity for sin. And the Spirit of God will come when evil spirits are cast out, and will enter the home of the heart and create good joy, by which the love of the world and the love of sin are driven out. The love of the world attracts and confuses, the love of sin defiles and leads to death. God's love enlightens the mind, clears the conscience, fills the soul with joy and shows God. 28. About the morals and actions of a God-loving person Whoever has the love of God always thinks about when he will come to God, when he will leave the world, when he will escape bodily corruption in order to find true peace; always has his heart and desire directed towards the heavenly. When he sits, when he walks, when he rests, or when he does anything, his heart does not depart from God. He exhorts everyone to the love of God, praises the love of God to everyone; and how sweet the love of God is, and how evil and bitter the love of this age is, he proves to everyone with his heart, lips and deeds. He laughs at the glory of this age, denounces worries and shows how foolish it is to place hope in temporary things. Marvels at the human blindness that loves this; he is surprised how everyone does not leave these fleeting, collapsing things. He often contemplates his God and enjoys His contemplation. 29. About true peace of heart Truly, this is direct peace of the heart, when it is all concentrated in desire in the love of God, and desires nothing else, and is amused by what it contains, with some kind of blissful pleasantness, and, having amused itself, is delighted. And if he is distracted from it by some vain thought or busy work, he hurries to return to it with all possible speed, considering any delay as punishment. For just as there is not a single minute in which a person does not enjoy or make use of the goodness of God, so there should not be a single moment in which he does not have God in his memory. Therefore, it is not easy for someone who converses with God in prayer and is only accidentally distracted from His sight, as if from the eyes of someone who does not see and does not hear. And this happens when he follows his evil and timeless thoughts and prefers any creation to which his mental vision is diverted to God, more often remembering in his thoughts the former than the One whom he must constantly remember as the Creator, worship as the Redeemer, wait for as the Savior, and fear as the Judge. 30. One should avoid everything that removes one from God. Flee, man, from your vain pleasures and hide from your evil thoughts; cast aside your burdensome worries, leave restless disputes, occupy yourself with God and rest in Him. Eliminate everything from your thoughts except that which helps you gain God. Let your whole heart say to God: I seek Your face. Now, Lord my God, You teach my heart where and how to look for You, where and how to find You. God! If You are not here, then where will I find You absent? And if You are everywhere, then why don’t I see You? Truly You live in an unapproachable light! How can I approach the inaccessible light? Or who will bring me and lead me into it, so that I can see You in it? Moreover, by what signs and what face will I look for You? I have never seen You, O Lord my God, I have never known Your face. What will Thy distant exile do, O Lord Most High? What will Thy servant do, wounded by Thy love and cast far away from Thy presence? Now he wants to see You, but Your face is very far from him; He desires to approach You, but Your village is inaccessible; wants to find You, but does not know how to find Your place; He desires You intensely, but does not know Your face. 31. About the loss of vision of God and about spiritual poverty God! You are my God and Lord, but I have never seen You, You created and renewed me and showed me everything good, but I have not yet matured or known You. I was created to see You and have not yet received what I was created for. Oh, the unfortunate fate of man who has destroyed what he was created for! O cruel and cruel fall! Alas! what did he lose and what did he find? What did you destroy and what is left? He lost the bliss for which he was created, and found poverty for which he was not created. He destroyed that without which there could be no prosperity, and only misfortune and poverty remained with him. Man then ate the angel's bread, which he now thirsts for; He now eats the bread of diseases, which he did not know then. Oh, You, Lord! How long will you forget us completely? How long do you turn away your face from us? When will you turn and hear us? When will You enlighten our eyes and show Your face to us? When will you return to us? Look, O Lord, and hear, and enlighten us, and appear to us; turn to us, may it be good for us, without which it is so difficult for us. Call us, help us, I pray to You, Lord! My heart is saddened by desolation; please it with Your consolation, I pray to You, Lord! The hungry one begins to seek You, so that I will not be abandoned by You; the thirsty one has come, let me not go away unquenched; the poor came to You the rich, the unfortunate to the merciful, let me not retreat unsatisfied and despised. God! I am bowed down and can only look down; Rise me up so that I can bear grief. My iniquities have surpassed my head, entangled me tightly and, like a heavy burden, oppress me; free me and remove the burden from me, “let the abyss of its mouth not close over me” (Ps. 68:16). Teach me to seek You and appear to those who seek You; since I cannot seek You if You do not instruct; and find You if You do not appear Yourself. May I seek You, desiring, may I desire, seeking, may I find, loving, may I love, may I find! I confess, Lord, and thank you that You created me in Your image, so that I could love You; but this image is so blotted out by the corruption of vices, so darkened by the child of sins, that it cannot do what it was created for, unless You renew and transform. I pray to You, Lord, who gives the knowledge of faith, grant me to know You as much as I should know You; since You are such as we believe, and the very thing that we believe; and we believe that You are something that nothing more or better can be imagined. What are You, Lord God, of which nothing more and better can be conceived than that very highest of all Goods, Which, being by itself alone, created all other things out of nothing? What good is there not in the highest Good, through Whom every good came into being? And therefore You are righteous, true, blessed. But how do You spare the wicked if You are all righteous? Is it because Your goodness is incomprehensible? This is hidden in the unapproachable light in which You live; truly in the deepest and most hidden abyss of Your goodness is hidden the source from which the river of Your mercy flows. You, being all righteous, are lenient towards the evil because you are all good; You would not be so much good if you were not merciful to a single sinner; for he is more good who is kind to both the good and the evil than the one who is kind only to the good; and better is he who is good to the evil with both mercy and punishment, rather than punishment alone. So, You are merciful because everything is good. 33. About spiritual joy when thinking about God Oh, immeasurable goodness that so surpasses every concept! May this mercy come to me, which comes from such wealth; May the grace that flows from You flow upon me. Spare by mercy and do not take revenge by justice! Awake now, my soul, and elevate your understanding and think as much as you can about the greatness of that Good, which is God. For if every good is delightful, then think carefully how sweet that Good is, which contains the sweetness of all goods, and not such as we feel in created things, but as different as the Creator distinguishes from the created. For if the created life is good, then how good is the creating life! If salvation is pleasant, then how pleasant is the salvation that creates every other salvation! If wisdom is kind in creatures, then how kind is the wisdom that created everything and brought everything out of nothing! Finally, if there are many and great pleasures in pleasant things, what kind of pleasure is there in Him who created these pleasant things? Whoever enjoys this eternal Good will enjoy spiritual benefits: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man” (1 Cor. 2:9). 34. That one should strive with one’s soul for the Highest Good Why do you, man, wander after many things, looking for benefits to your soul and your body? Love one Good, in Which all good things are contained, and that will be enough; desire simple good, which is all good, and that is enough for you. For what do you love, my flesh? What do you want, my soul? Everything you love is there; everything you want is there. If beauty seduces you, the righteous will shine like the sun; if there is speed, strength or freedom of the body, which nothing can resist, then the righteous will be like the angels of God; since “a spiritual body is sown, a spiritual body is raised” (1 Cor. 15:44), and this is by power, and not by nature. If a healthy life continues, there will be a prosperous eternity and eternal health; for the righteous will live forever, and the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord. If there is satiation, they will be satisfied when the glory of the Lord appears; if intoxication, they will become drunk “from the fatness of Your house” (Ps. 35:9); if the singing is pleasant, the angels will sing there endlessly. If there is any pure joy, the Lord will give you a stream of His sweetness to drink. If wisdom - God's wisdom itself will reveal itself to us. If there is friendship, we will love God more than ourselves, and God will love us more than ourselves. If there is agreement, then we will all have one will; since we will have no will other than God’s. If there is power, then we will be omnipotent in our will, like God in His; for just as God can do whatever He wants through Himself, so the righteous can do whatever they want through Him; since they will desire nothing other than what God wills, and He will will whatever they desire; and whatever they want, it is impossible not to have it. If honor and wealth, God will place His good and faithful servants over many properties, and they will also be called sons of God and heirs of God, and they will be joint heirs with Christ. And if there is security, then they will be confident that never and under any circumstances will that good be taken away from them and that the God who loves them will not take it from His lovers, and there is nothing stronger than God that could separate them from Him. 35. About the mutual love of saints The human heart, the poor heart, the heart that has experienced sorrow and poverty and exhausted by misfortunes! How much would you rejoice if all this abounded? Ask all your feelings if they could contain their joy about such bliss. But truly, if someone else, whom you sincerely loved as yourself, had the same bliss, then your joy would double, since you would rejoice no less about yourself than about him. And if two, or three, or much more had the same thing, then you would rejoice over each one as much as over yourself, if you loved each one as yourself. Why will this be in that perfect love of angels and people where no one will love another less than himself? Because each one will rejoice in no other way than in himself. So, if the human heart cannot contain its own joy about such well-being, then how can it contain so many joys? It won’t fit, because no matter how much someone loves someone, they rejoice over his well-being. Just as in this blissful state everyone, without comparison, will love God more than himself and all others, so he will rejoice more without comparison in the bliss of God than in himself and everyone else with him. And if he loves so much with all his heart, with all his thought, with all his soul, that despite all this, all his heart, all his thought, all his soul is not commensurate with the dignity of love, then, of course, he will rejoice with all his heart, all his thought, all his soul, even though his whole heart, all his thought, his whole soul will not be able to contain the fullness of joy. 36. About the inexhaustible joy of eternal life My God and my Lord, my Hope and the Joy of my heart! Tell my soul whether this is the joy that You speak to us about through Your Son: ask and you will receive, that your joy will be filled; for I have found some joy full, and very full. Since, although the whole heart, the whole thought, the whole soul and the whole person will be filled with this joy, it will nevertheless remain without measure. Therefore, not all this joy will dwell in those who rejoice, that is, all who rejoice will enter into the joy of their Lord. Tell me, Lord, tell Thy servant inside my heart, is this the joy into which Thy servants will enter, who will enter into the joy of their Lord? But truly, that joy in which Your chosen ones will rejoice, neither the eye has seen, nor the ear has heard, nor has it entered the heart of man. I’ll also say: Lord! How much will your chosen ones rejoice? They will rejoice as much as they love; They will love as much as they know You, Lord. And so much has not truly been seen by the eye, nor heard by the ear, nor entered into the heart of man (1 Cor. 2:9) in this life, as much as You will be known and loved in that life. I pray to You, my God, that I may know You, that I may love You, that I may rejoice in You. And since I cannot have this completely in this life, even though I succeed day by day until this perfection comes. Let Your knowledge increase in me here, so that there it may be complete; may Thy love grow in me, so that it may be complete there; may my joy be great in myself here, and there in You full. True God! I ask that I receive what You promise, that my joy may be complete. Meanwhile, let my mind meditate on it, let my tongue speak about it, let my heart love it, let my mouth speak about it, let my soul hunger for it, let my flesh thirst for it, let my whole being desire it, until I come into the joy of my Lord and abide in it forever. You might be interested in: