Sanctity is not just a virtue. It is an attainment of such spiritual heights, that the abundance of God's grace which fills the saint overflows on all who associate with him. Great is the saint's state of bliss in which they dwell contemplating the Glory of God. Being filled with love for God and man, they are responsive to man's needs, interceding before God and helping those who turn to them."
St John of Shanghai and San Francisco ☦️
"You cannot conquer any passion, any sin without gracious help; therefore, always ask the help of Christ, your Saviour. It was for this that He came into the world, for this that He suffered, died, and rose from the dead, in order to help us in everything, to save us from sin, and from the violence of the passions, to cleanse us from our sins, to bestow upon us power in Holy Spirit to do good works, to enlighten us, to strengthen us, to give us peace. You ask how you can save yourself when sin stands at every step, and you sin at every moment? There is a simple answer to this: at every step, at every moment, call upon the Saviour, remember the Saviour, and you will save yourself and others.
I am morally nothing without the Lord. I have really not one true thought or good feeling, and can do no good works; without Him I cannot drive away from me any sinful thought, any passionate feeling such as malice, envy, fornication, pride, and so forth. The Lord is the accomplishment of everything good that I think, feel, and do.
O, how boundlessly wide is the Lord's grace acting in me! The Lord is everything to me, and so clearly, so constantly. Mine.
O, how we ought to love our Lord, Who was pleased to call us into existence from non-existence, to honour us by His image and likeness, to establish us in a paradise of delights, to subdue all the earth unto us, and Who — when we did not keep His commandments, but were allured by the enticement of the Devil, and immeasurably offended our Creator by our ingratitude, and assimilated unto ourselves all the qualities of the tempter (pride, malice, envy, ingratitude) and all his evil arts, which he taught us as his prisoners — did not reject us for ever, but deigned to redeem us from sin, from the curse and death into which we had fallen through sin, and Himself appeared upon earth, having taken our nature upon Him; He Himself became my Teacher, my Healer, my Worker of miracles, my Saviour;
Reflection;
In his deep humility St John, by talking about saints, was describing his own inner spiritual state, given to him by God, whom he served all his life. He was well aware of the Grace of God flowing inside him and going to others around him, especially those close to him as they loved him much.
All the Saints, have already attained sanctity in this life way before their leave this earth. And it's in this attaining or acquisition of sanctity that we can learn much.
Before the sanctity becomes a permanent state, where the Grace of God doesn't leave the heart, the person goes through many trials and temptations. These seem to be a necessity for us in order not to lose the compass, the focus on acquiring sanctity. In other words spiritual joys and sorrows take turns.
When building a house, there is lots of labour involved. The place is marked where the house needs to be built.
Our heart is marked where the Holy Spirit wants to build the place of his permanent residence, but needs our cooperation and patience.
As we proceed with building the house, we learn that the foundation has to be solid and done thoroughly, properly, otherwise the house will crack and fall.
Our foundation has to be humility that is formed by passing through temptations with courage and seeing them as necessary means to learn about ourselves, to see what materials we need in the house and to go and buy these. Materials needed in the heart is prayer, courage, patience, selflessness and alike.
After many sorrows one may understand temptations in different light.
Although, very undesirable, they cause us to seek God's Grace even more fervently, and this brings us closer to sanctity because we have laid the foundation of humility.
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You have anxieties about your life… Pray fervently to the Lord from your heart in this way: ‘I place my fate in Your hands, O my Saviour. In the way that You know, arrange my life as is best. From now on I cut off every care about myself, having but one care, to do what is pleasing before You.’ Speak to God in this way, and by doing so you will already have placed yourself completely in His hands, not being concerned about anything, but calmly accepting every sort of situation, pleasant or unpleasant, as being arranged for you purposely by God. Your only concern should be to act according to God’s commandments in everything. This is all that is required of you.
-- St. Theophan the Recluse ☦️
