October
14, 2001
"24
Discourses: Joy"
St. Peter Damaskos
St. Peter of Damaskos wrote a wonderful piece of
"joy" and its meaning to the spiritual seeker. This reading is
a bit long, but it is full of the kind of instruction that makes the
seeker so aware of his or her surroundings, and so conscious of God's
presence in everything in everyday life, that it is a joy to read. I
hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.
JOY
(from "The 24 Discourses")
BEGIN: "Rejoice in the Lord,"
said St. Paul (Philemon 3:1). And he was right to say, "in the
Lord." For if our joy is not in the Lord, not only do we not
rejoice, but in all probability we never shall. Job, as he described the
life of men, found it full of every kind of affliction (Job 7:1-21), and
so also did St. Basil the Great. St. Gregory of Nyssa said that birds
and other animals rejoice because of their lack of awareness, while man,
being endowed with intelligence, is never happy because of his grief.
For, he says, we have not been found worthy even to have knowledge of
the blessings we have lost. For this reason nature teaches us rather to
grieve, since life is full of pain and effort, like a state of exile
dominated by sin. But if a person is constantly mindful of God, he will
rejoice: as the psalmist says, "I remembered God, and I
rejoiced" (Psalms 77:3). For when the intellect is gladdened by the
remembrance of God, then it forgets the afflictions of this world,
places its hope in Him, and is no longer troubled or anxious. Freedom
from anxiety makes it rejoice and give thanks; and the grateful offering
of thanks augments the gifts of grace it has received. And as the
blessings increase, so does the thankfulness, and so does the pure
prayer offered with tears of joy.
Slowly the man emerges from the tears of distress
and from the passions, and enters fully into the state of spiritual joy.
Through the things that bring him pleasure, he is made humble and
grateful; through trials and temptations his hope in the world to come
is consolidated; in both he rejoices, and naturally and spontaneously he
loves God and all men as his benefactors. He finds nothing in the whole
of creation that can harm him. Illumined by the knowledge of God he
rejoices in the Lord on account of all the things that He has created,
marveling at the care He shows for His creatures. The person who has
attained spiritual knowledge not only marvels at visible things, but
also is astounded by his perception of many essential things invisible
to those who lack experience of this knowledge.
Thus he looks with wonder not only on the light
of day, but also at the night. For the night is a benediction to all; to
those practicing the virtues that pertain to the body it offers
stillness and leisure; it encourages the remembrance of death and hell
in those who grieve; those engaged in practicing the moral virtues it
spurs to study and examine more closely the blessings they have received
and the moral state of their soul. In the words of the psalmist,
"As you lie in bed, repent of what you say in your heart"
(Psalms 4:4), that is, repent in the stillness of the night, remembering
the lapses that occurred in the confusion of the day and disciplining
yourself in hymns and spiritual songs (Colossians 3:16) -- in other
words, teaching yourself to persist in prayer and psalmody through
attentive meditation on what you read. For the practice of the moral
virtues is effectuated by meditating on what has happened during the
day, so that during the stillness of the night we can become aware of
the sins we have committed and can grieve over them.
When in this way through God's grace we make some
progress, and discover that in truth and not just in fantasy we have
realized in either action or thought some moral virtue of soul or body
according to Christ's commandment, then we give thanks with fear and
humility; and we struggle to preserve that moral virtue by means of
prayer and many tears offered to God, disciplining ourselves to remember
it lest we lose it again because of forgetfulness. For it takes much
time to make a moral virtue effective in ourselves, while what has been
achieved with so much time and effort can be lost in a single instant.
All this applies to those practicing the virtues.
Where the contemplative life is concerned, the night supplies us with
many themes for contemplation, as St. Basil the Great has said. First of
all, it reminds us daily of the creation of the world, since all
creation becomes invisible because of the darkness, as it was before it
came into existence. This in its turn prompts us to reflect how the sky
was empty then and without stars, as happens now whent hey become
invisible because of the clouds. When we enter our cell and see only
darkness, we are reminded of the darkness that was over the abyss
(Genesis 1:2), and when suddenly the sky becomes clear again, and we
stand outside our cell, we are struck by wonder at the world above, and
offer praise to God, just as the angels are said in the Book of Job to
have praised God when they saw the stars (Job 38:7). We see in the
mind's eye the earth as it was originally, invisible and without form
(Genesis 1:2), and men held fast by sleep as if they did not exist. We
feel ourselves alone in the world like Adam and, united with the angels,
in full knowledge we praise the Maker and Creator of the universe.
In thunder and lightning we see the day of
judgment; in the call of cocks we hear the trumpet that will sound on
that day (I Thessalonians 4:16), in the rising of the morning star and
the light of dawn we perceive the appearance of the precious and
life-giving Cross (Matthew 24:30); in men's rising from sleep we see a
sign of the resurrection of the dead, and in the rising of the sun a
token of the second advent of Christ. Some, like the saints caught up in
clouds on the last day (I Thessalonians 4:17), we see go forth to greet
Him with song, while others, like those who will then be judged, are
indifferent and remain asleep. Some we see rejoicing throughout the day
in the offering of praise, in contemplation and prayer, and in the other
virtues, living in the light of spiritual knowledge, as will the
righteous at the second coming; while others we see persisting in the
passions and in the darkness of ignorance, as will sinners on that day.
In short, the man of spiritual knowledge finds
that everything contributes to his soul's salvation and to God's glory:
indeed, it was because of this glory that all things were brought into
existence by the Lord and God of knowledge, as Hannah the mother of the
prophet Samuel calls Him (I Samuel 2:3). "Therefore let the wise
man not vaunt himself because of his wisdom," she said, "or
the strong man because of his strength, or the rich man because of his
wealth; but let him who boasts do so because of his understanding and
knowledge of the Lord" (I Samuel 2:10). That is to say, let him
boast because he knows the Lord with full understanding from His works,
and because he imitates Him, so far as is possible, through the keeping
of His divine commandments. For it is through them that he knows God and
can "work judgment and righteousness in the midst of the
earth" (I Samuel 2:10), as God does. Hannah spoke these words
prophetically concerning the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord.
The gnostic's aspiration, too, is to suffer with the Lord through the
acquisition of the virtues and to be glorified with Him through
dispassion and spiritual knowledge, and to boast because of Him, in
that, unworthy though he is, he has been enabled by grace to be a
servant of such a master and an imitator of His humility. Then
"Praise will come from God" (I Corinthians 4:5). But when will
that happen? When He says to those on His right hand, "Come, you
blessed, inherit the kingdom" (Matthew 25:34). May we all be found
worthy to inherit that kingdom through His grace and love: to Him be
gloy and dominion throughout the ages. Amen.
from G.E.H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, and
Kallistos Ware, trans., "The Philokalia -- vol. III," (London:
Faber and Faber, 1984), pp. 260 - 263.
SOME GOOD BOOKS FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
A fascinating book that shows better than any
others the "secular importance" of monks and monasteries is
the national bestseller by Thomas Cahill, "How the Irish Saved
Civilization." As the famous historian, Kenneth Clark, noted,
"Looking back from the great civilizations of twelfth-century
France or seventeenth-century Rome, it is hard to believe that for quite
a long time -- almost a hundred years -- western Christianity survived
by clinging to places like Skellig Michael, a pinnacle of rock eighteen
miles from the Irish coast, rising seven hundred feet out of the
sea." This fascinating of the hermit monks and scribes of old
Ireland proves, perhaps better than any other treatise, the great value
that monks and monasteries have been to civilization over the centuries.
Order "How
the Irish Saved Civilization" today!
A companion piece to Cahill's book is another one
he wrote called, "Desire of the Everlasting Hills." This
fascinating book describes "the world before and after Jesus"
and seeks to answer the question, "How did an obscure rabbi and
minor prophet from a backwater of the Roman Empire come to be considered
the central figure in Western civilization?" I have just finished
this book and I have to tell you, it is really good. I highly recommend
it. Cahill is an excellent writer and historian and his studies of the
"hinges of history" look at the people and events that changed
history. He gives all of us, believers and non-believers alike, great
insight into the times around our Savior's birth and life and puts the
enormous influence His life had on our world into a very understandable
context. Order "Desire
of the Everlasting Hills" today!
During my vacation, I read "The Day-to-Day
Life of the Desert Fathers," by Fr. Lucian Reginald, a monk in the
Abbey of Solesmes. This book is GREAT!!! I love it because it gave me
the first real chance to imagine what everyday life was like for the
ancient Desert Fathers; this includes their homes, their food, their
church services -- everything! It's simply wonderful and I cannot
recommend it enough to add to your collection of patristic literature.
Fr. Reginald has been a monk for over forty
years, and spent two years in Egypt visiting the places where the Desert
Fathers lived and researching their lives. This book (257 pages!)
recreates the daily life of the ancient Desert Fathers and takes an
in-depth look at their lifestyles and daily routines. I cannot recommend
this book strongly enough as it really puts a "human face" on
the lifestyles and environment of the early Desert Fathers and Mother
and gives us a unique look at their way of life. Order "The
Day-to-Day Life of the Desert Fathers" today!
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