St. John of Kronstadt · 17 of 49

Part I · Part 17

O, how full of misery, of difficulties, and how grievous is this earthly life! From morning till night, daily, we must carry on a grievous warfare against the carnal passions, fighting against our soul, against "principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places," whose craft and subtlety are immeasurably evil, infernally artful, indefatigable! O, Sweetest Saviour, Thou Who calleth unto Thyself all those who labour and are heavy-laden—to give them rest! Thou seest: our heart and bosom are wasted from this daily struggle and affliction, we are unnerved, weakened, we walk like shadows. Our evil enemies continually vex our souls, and endeavour by every means to draw us into the abyss of despair. Stretch forth, Master, Thy mighty right hand, and deliver us from the snares of the dragon of olden time, the murderer of men. "If any man will come after Me, said the Lord, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me." But who is the daily cause of our cross, our afflictions and distresses? The old carnal man, and the Devil with his continual snares.

To look unto the Lord during the struggle against any passion, or after having committed any sin and repented of it, gives peace to our doubting hearts, and a wonderful brightness to our countenance." Thou hast put gladness in my heart; Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us." O, how bright does our countenance become when we look upon the God of our hearts by the exertion of our faith, with our spiritual vision! Truly, then the Lord Himself is with us, as He said: "Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee." "I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honour him." O, Thou most-bountiful and long-suffering God, Thou Who art ready to pardon unto seventy times seven the sins and transgressions of all those who heartily repent and ask Thy forgiveness—have mercy upon us, who every hour offend many times against Thee. Amen.

What infinite nothingness our food and drink represent on the one side, and what infinite grandeur the man himself who is fed by them represents on the other side! Is it not the greatest insanity for man, for his image of God, for this partaker of the divine nature, for whom God may be all—"God may be all in all" --to grudge food, drink, clothing, dwelling, and anything else earthly! Let the dust be dust—but let the immortal image of the immortal God be always exalted and preferred before everything earthly, corruptible and transitory! Therefore, do not let us be sparing of anything for our neighbour! O, what a great honour it is—to feed, to clothe, to give rest to the image of God! Most-gracious and Most-bountiful God! fill our hearts with mercy and bountifulness!

God's saints had "the eyes of their understanding enlightened," and with these eyes they clearly saw the wants of our sin-corrupted nature; clearly saw for what we should pray, for what we should ask, for what we should give thanks, how we should praise the Lord, and they left us the most perfect examples of prayers of various kinds. O, how beautiful these prayers are! Sometimes we do not feel and do not know their value, whilst we well know the value of food and drink, of fashionable attire, of well-furnished rooms, of theatres, of music, of worldly literature, especially of novels, that fluent, empty mass of words --and, alas! we trample under feet the precious pearls of prayer; and whilst everything worldly finds a welcome, wide shelter in the hearts of most people, prayer --alas! --does not find even a narrow corner in them, cannot get into them. And when it begs us to let it in, it is thrust out like a mendicant, like the man who had not a wedding garment.

Rejoice at every opportunity of showing kindness to your neighbour as a true Christian who strives to store up as many good works as possible, especially the treasures of love. Do not rejoice when others show you kindness and love --consider yourself unworthy of it; but rejoice when an occasion presents itself for you to show love. Show love simply, without any deviation into cunning thoughts, without any trivial, worldly, covetous calculations, remembering that love is God Himself. Remember that He sees all your ways, sees all the thoughts and movements of your heart.

Do not let pass any opportunity for praying for any man, either at his request or at the request of his relatives, friends, of those who esteem him, or of his acquaintances. The Lord looks favourably upon the prayer of our love, and upon our boldness before him. Besides this, prayer for others is very beneficial to the man himself who prays for others; it purifies the heart, strengthens faith and hope in God, and enkindles our love for God and our neighbour. When praying, say thus:" Lord, it is possible for Thee to do this or that to this servant of Thine; do this for him, for Thy name is the Merciful Lover of Men and the Almighty." "If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts [not only] unto your children [but also to strangers], how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give all possible good things to them that ask Him!"

Glory to Thee, Lord, our Father, most wise prover of my love for Thee and my neighbour! Do not leave me without the temptations which are necessary and beneficial in accordance with Thy wisdom and truth, not for a single day of my life. May they confirm, strengthen, and increase my love for Thee and my neighbour, and may I not appear poor and empty before Thy face at the day of Thy judgment!

If I, a weak man, when I wish to do anything within the limits of my capability am able to do it (for instance, if I wish to write a book, I write it; if I wish to cure an illness, I cure it; if I wish to make anything, I make it—for instance, if I want to build a house or a church, I build such a house or church; or if I say to another man, "Come," and he comes; "Go," and he goes; "Do this" and he does it) then cannot God, the Almighty, do everything that He may desire? "As for our God, He is in heaven; He hath done whatsoever pleased Him." If sometimes a man only says two words, that something shall be, and it really comes to pass—though, perhaps, not at once, but after a certain time—then will not everything be done at once that is commanded by the word of the Creator? Will not everything that He desires be done at once at a single word from Him? "For He spake the word, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created." We are not creators of men, yet they do so much at our word; we are not creators of things, yet, in accordance with our wishes and acts, they take thousands of shapes and serve for our innumerable requirements and pleasures. We do not create matter, but we create both great and small objects from matter. Cannot, therefore, the Creator, Who is everywhere present, and fills all things, at Whose word all things came from non-existence into being, by Whose thought, by Whose will, and by Whose word all the infinite varieties of things were created and exist, create anything He desires? If a human physician can sometimes bring back to life a half-dead person by means of the knowledge of his profession, and skilful, well-directed action upon the cause of the illness, cannot, therefore, the Creator of physicians and of the science of healing cure, at His single wish and word, every illness? Cannot the Creator even raise the dead at His single word? Let us render glory to Him, we of little faith, and let us say to Him from our hearts: "All things are possible unto Thee, Lord, and nothing is impossible to Thee. Amen."

O Thou Almighty Sovereign, to Whose single sign all things, the whole visible and invisible world, are obedient, grant that I may unceasingly glorify Thee by the simplicity of my faith in Thine infinite power. Give me the faith that will not be ashamed, firm hope, and unfeigned love for Thee and my neighbour.

" He [God] is before all things, and by Him all things consist." A great, immeasurable meaning is contained in these words. They explain the name of " I Am that I Am," by which name the Lord named Himself to Moses. For "I Am" signifies Him Who exists before all things, and by Whom all things exist. These words show the infinite omnipotence and grace and the immeasurable wisdom of the Lord our God. "Great is our Lord, and great is His power, and His wisdom is infinite."

If, being in an assemblage of men, you call a person known to you, and he comes to you; if you ask one or many men subservient to you to do anything for you within the limit of his or their capability, and they fulfil your request, satisfying it according to your desire, and even beyond your desire, then be assured that, likewise, in God's Church, in that great house of God divided into two halves --the heavenly and the earthly—any of the members of the Church in Heaven whom you call upon will come to your spiritual help conformably to his grace and the abundance of his love. Ask him to do anything for you that you please, especially anything relating to the Kingdom and righteousness of God, and he will do it through his close association with God, the Source of grace and power. God's saints also hear you --as, for instance, the whole congregation hears you when you pray or speak the Word—for they are in the Holy Ghost, and the Spirit is everywhere present, and tills all things.

Our self-love and pride manifest themselves especially in impatience and irritability when some of us cannot bear the slightest unpleasantness intentionally, or even unintentionally, caused us by others; or obstacles lawfully or unlawfully, intentionally or unintentionally, opposed to us by men, or caused by the objects surrounding us. Our self-love and pride would like everything to be as we wish, that we should be surrounded by every honour and comfort of this temporal life; would like all men, and even—how far is pride carried!—all nature itself, to speedily and silently obey a sign from us; whilst, alas! we ourselves are very slow to faith and to every good work—slow to please the one Master of all. Christian! you must absolutely be humble, meek, and long-suffering, remembering that you are clay, dust, nothingness; that you are impure; that everything good that you have is from God; that your life, your breath and everything you possess are God's gifts; that for your sins of disobedience and intemperance you ought now to redeem your future blessedness in Paradise by the long-suffering which is indispensable in this world of imperfections and innumerable transgressions of the fallen men living together with us, and forming the numerous members of the one sin-sullied human race." Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." He who is impatient and irritable does not know himself and the human race, and is unworthy of the name of Christian. In saying this, I pronounce judgment against myself, for I am the first of those who are afflicted with impatience and irritability.

Our life is children's play, only not innocent, but sinful, because, with a strong mind, and with the knowledge of the purpose of our life, we neglect this purpose and occupy ourselves with frivolous, purposeless matters. And thus our life is childish, unpardonable play. We amuse ourselves with food and drink, gratifying ourselves by them, instead of only using them for the necessary nourishment of our body and the support of our bodily life. We amuse ourselves with dress, instead of only decently covering our body and protecting it from the injurious action of the elements. We amuse ourselves with silver and gold, admiring them in treasuries, or using them for objects of luxury and pleasure, instead of using them only for our real needs, and sharing our superfluity with those in want. We amuse ourselves with our houses and the variety of furniture in them, decorating them richly and exquisitely, instead of merely having a secure and decent roof to protect us from the injurious action of the elements, and things necessary and suitable for domestic use. We amuse ourselves with our mental gifts, with our intellect, imagination, using them only to serve sin and the vanity of this world—that is, only to serve earthly and corruptible things—instead of using them before all and above all to serve God, to learn to know Him, the all-wise Creator of every creature, for prayer, supplication, petitions, thanksgiving and praise to Him, and to show mutual love and respect, and only partly to serve this world, which will some day entirely pass away. We amuse ourselves with our knowledge of worldly vanity, and to acquire this knowledge we waste most precious time, which was given to us for our preparation for eternity. We frequently amuse ourselves with our affairs and business, with our duties, fulfilling them heedlessly, carelessly, and wrongfully, and using them for our own covetous, earthly purposes. We amuse ourselves with beautiful human faces, or the fair, weaker sex, and often use them for the sport of our passions. We amuse ourselves with time, which ought to be wisely utilised for redeeming eternity, and not for games and various pleasures. Finally, we amuse ourselves with our own selves, making idols out of ourselves, before which we bow down, and before which we expect others to bow down. Who can sufficiently describe and deplore our accursedness, our great, enormous vanity, the great misery into which we voluntarily throw ourselves? What answer shall we give to our immortal King, Christ our God, Who shall come again in the glory of His Father to judge both the quick and the dead, to declare the secret thoughts of all hearts, and receive from us our answer for every word and deed. O, woe, woe, woe to us who bear the name of Christ, but have none of the spirit of Christ in us; who bear the name of Christ, but do not follow the teaching of the Gospel! Woe to us who "neglect so great salvation"! Woe to us who love the present fleeting, deceptive life, and neglect the inheritance of the life that follows after the death of our corruptible body beyond this carnal veil!

One of the infirmities of the human spirit is its slowness to faith and its slothfulness in acquiring a knowledge of the truth, especially of the truths of faith and piety. What do youths, and even grown-up and elder people, study most inertly and slothfully? The truths of faith and piety. This is proved by innumerable experiences.

In order that men should esteem and love each other, should not be proud, should not be arrogant to each other, the most wise Lord has given to different men different natural and beneficial advantages, so that they may have need of each other. In this manner each one of us must involuntarily acknowledge this or that infirmity and humble himself before God and men.

Lord, Thou Thyself hast said by Thy most pure lips: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." I long to be perfect. Be Thou therefore every perfection for me, for Thou hast also said: "For without Me ye can do nothing."

All prayers assume the great poverty and misery of our fallen nature; they also assume that the Lord is the ever flowing source of every perfection, every blessing; that He is our inexhaustible treasury. Truly, we must have poverty of spirit during prayer and at all times. " Blessed are the poor in spirit."

Consider how great is man: "God dwelleth in him, and he in God;" so that in a pious Christian it is as though not a man but Christ Himself lives. "Nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me;" because the whole soul becomes Christ's, as iron in a furnace itself becomes fiery like a burning coal: it is all fire, all light, all warmth.

Preserve a meek and peaceable disposition towards your brother, even when he cunningly or artfully, or somehow unintentionally deprives you of all you possess. Show then that you love God's image in him more than anything earthly and perishable, that your "charity never faileth." "Of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again." "And if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also." Do not let the enemy shame you for laying your hopes upon such earthly dust as money and food, more than upon God, but shame him himself by your firm trust in God and in His Holy Word. For "man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Mark; "by every word." For every word of the Lord Creator can support your life, just as every word can create and transform thousands of creatures. "For He spake and it was done; He commanded and it stood fast." Thus at His word He brought from non-existence into being the myriads of the immortal heavenly hosts, and having sanctified them by the Holy Ghost, strengthens and supports them in their being. Do not foolishly lower the dignity of your immortal spirit by vainly trusting in earthly dust. Say, "My trust is in God," or "The Father is my trust, the Son is my refuge, the Holy Ghost is my protection. O, Holy Trinity, glory to Thee!"And yet how many of us become irritated and lose their temper when they are deprived, not of their last coin, but only of some small part of by no means their last property! How much agitation, anger, bile, bitter reproaches, murmuring, sometimes even curses! Righteous God! can this dross called money, or this food and drink produce such storms in our Christian souls, in us who know the words of our sweetest Saviour? "Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body what ye shall put on. Behold the birds of the air, they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them. But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Or: " A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." My God! to what have we come? In what are we better than heathens in our mode of life? Where is our faith, our trust in God, our love for our neighbour? O, pride of Satan! O, what shame is ours! Heavenly Father! Thou who knowest what things we have need of, and givest them to us before we ask Thee, have mercy upon us unfaithful, ungrateful, and evil-natured ones. Lord, we hear Thy merciful words: " I will never leave thee nor forsake thee;" but being daily tempted by earthly blessings, we do not heed them, and transgress Thy will.

Do not fear bodily privations, but fear spiritual privations. Do not fear, do not be faint-hearted, do not be irritated when you are deprived of money, food, drink, enjoyments, clothes, dwelling, even of your body itself; but fear when the enemy deprives your soul of faith, of trust, and love for God and your neighbour; when he sows hatred, enmity, attachment to earthly things, pride, and other sins in your heart. " Fear not them [men] which, will kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul."

"But Thou art the same, and Thy years shall have no end," is said of the unchangeableness of God. O, if you, men, were always the same—to-day, to-morrow, the day after to-morrow and so on—and if you did not change in a thousand ways like a kaleidoscope! O, if you too were always equally peaceful, kind, simple, amiable, patient, industrious, benevolent, and generous! But you can be such if by hearty faith and love you unite yourself to the Unchangeable. "For I am the Lord, I change not." "I preserve My servants from falling into evil, for I am the source of mercy, benefiting those who serve Me worthily."

Peace is the integrity and health of the soul; to lose peace is to lose spiritual health.

Reverence with all the powers of your soul all the sacraments, and say to yourself in respect to every sacrament before the celebration or the communion of it: " This is God's mystery. I myself am only the unworthy witness or partaker of it." Otherwise, our proud intellect even wishes to search out God's mystery, and, if unable to penetrate it, rejects it as not coming under the small measure of our intellect.

If a single word of an earthly king causes great deeds to come to pass in his kingdom—he speaks and the work begins and is accomplished—then will not the word of the Lord of all material and spiritual, visible and invisible creatures, accomplish everything He desires? Shall He speak and it not be created? Shall he speak and it not be done? O, Almighty Power, able to accomplish everything in one single moment, do not leave us on account of our sins, and above all on account of our incredulity and despair, to be tormented by our own infirmities, lest we be destroyed like earthen vessels. Grant that we may believe with all our hearts in Thine Almighty Power; that we may not doubt in the fulfilment of our every right request.

All visible nature, all its parts, great and small, down to the very smallest, at every instant remind us that everything has proceeded from the Lord, and exists and moves by Him—that everything is or comes into being through Him, and at each moment obeys Him.

O, how low has our nature fallen through our passion for eating! O, thrice accursed Satan, who has precipitated us, and still precipitates us, through food, into thousands of evils! O, food and drink, that so powerfully tempt us! How long shall we be allured by you and place our life in you? When shall we engrave deeply upon our hearts the Saviour's words: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," and bring these words into our life and actions? How long will our greediness, self-indulgence, surfeiting, and drunkenness continue? How long will our abominable avarice and love of money continue? How long will our pride, animosity and malice against our neighbour, through money, dress, houses, food, and drink last? Thousands of Satan's deceits, by means of food, dress, and money, disclose themselves to our spiritual vision, and yet we still continue to be allured by his enticements as though by something real, useful to us, whilst in fact we are caring for neither more nor less than destructive illusions, and for that which is most pernicious both spiritually and bodily to our own selves. Do not believe, brethren, in the enemy's enticements, not for one single moment, when the matter concerns food and drink, however plausible they may apparently be. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." "I spake not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, which is hypocrisy," in matters of faith and piety. Pay the utmost attention to faith and piety. "Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you." Give away even the last that you have, if there is need of it, remembering the words of the Saviour: "If any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also"—that is, give away the last that you have.

"After their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears." Is not this what men of the world, and even many of the clergy are now doing? Do they not choose for themselves teachers that flatter their hearing? They do not learn of the one Teacher - Christ, from His Gospel and His Church; but they learn of worldly journalists, novelists, poets, actors, and exclaim: " Ah, how interesting all this is—how instructive it all is! " and say, if not in words, then by their deeds: "We have no need of either the Gospel or the Church, with its services, its sacraments, and preaching of God's Word. We have such good, such most moral teachers." Lord Jesus! To what have we come! They have cast Thy words behind them.

Do not be despondent and do not fall into despair when you feel within your soul the deadly breath and ferment of malice and evil, impatience and blasphemy, or any weakness from impure thoughts; but fight against them unremittingly and endure valiantly, calling with all your heart upon the Lord Jesus—the Conqueror of hell. Humble yourself deeply, deeply, acknowledging yourself from the depths of your soul as the first of sinners, unworthy of human fellowship, and the Lord, seeing your humility and your struggle, will help you. Call also to your help the speedy Mediatrix, the Most Holy Virgin, the Mother of God, saying: " Heal, most pure Lady, the many painful wounds of my soul, and strike the enemies constantly fighting against me."

If you truly call God your Father, then trust in Him as in the one Father, most merciful, Almighty, most wise, unchangeable in His love and in His perfections. Trust in Him in respect to the blessings of this temporal life, but especially in respect to granting you future blessings in Christ Jesus. Engrave deeply on your heart the words: "God is my Father. Our Father, which art in heaven." But as through the love of the heavenly Father for you, you yourself have become the child of God, as having come forth from Him, as possessing reason and free will, you ought, on your part, to use all your efforts to attain the blessed and eternal heavenly inheritance; you ought to know and always remember that you are a fallen being. And as you fell possessing reason and freedom—fell by your own will—then by that same reason, which is enlightened by the light of the word of God and the divine light of the Holy Ghost, by that same free will, strengthened by the grace of the Holy Ghost in Christ Jesus, rise up from your fall and go forward without stopping towards the heavenly, endless life, despising all earthly things as perishable and quickly passing away, and especially not attaching yourself to silver and gold, to food and drink, through which such a depth of evil has fallen upon all the human race.

Thank our most speedy Mediatrix, our Lady, the Mother of our Lord, the most pure, most good Virgin Mary, for saving us through our fervent prayers from the harassments and oppression of the Devil. Look up to Her, with the eyes of your heart, in the Holy Ghost, who is everywhere present, fills everything, and who is incomplex. Look up at Her as being close to your very heart, and call upon Her: "Most speedy Lady Mediatrix, Mary, Mother of God, save me from the enemy—the disturber." And immediately, in an instant, She will save you according to the faith of your heart, according to your soul's trust in Her; and the oppression, the fire, and heavy despondency will fall aside and leave you. It is only necessary to represent to yourself and firmly believe that the Holy Ghost is everywhere, in every place; that He is an incomplex Being, that in Him all heaven is near us, as upon the >palm of the hand, with all its angels and saints, so that we have only to call upon the Lord, or upon the Virgin Mother of God, or any saint from the depth of the heart, with clear-sighted faith, with heartfelt repentance for the sins by which we are bound by the enemy or by which we have bound voluntarily ourselves—and our salvation will immediately shine forth. Marvellous is the saving power of our Lady; it flows into the heart like a healing balsam, or like fragrant, life-giving air, or like calming water. Only look on Her with the eyes of your heart, trusting in Her mercy and help. But this, too, is difficult—to look on Her with heartfelt, clear-sighted faith—just as it is difficult to look on the Lord Jesus Christ or the saints; for the enemy endeavours by every means to stand like a hard, high, dark wall between our souls and the Lord, or the Mother of God, the angels and saints. The accursed one does not allow the eye of the heart to see the Lord or His saints; he darkens our heart in every way; he scatters faith, oppressing, burning, and darkening us inwardly. We must look upon all such actions as illusions and falsehood, and break through this imaginary wall to the Lord, or to His Holy Mother, or His saints. As soon as you break through this wall, you will immediately be saved. " Thy faith hath made thee whole."