I came across this while searching for some quotes on expectation for a post I had in mind about today. For the record, today (24 December 2008) sucked like a
But I digress…
Anyway so I was looking for quotes on expectation from the Fathers and the Bible and I came across this one:
“Now the day of mercy has shown forth! Let no one persecute his neighbor with revenge for the wrong he has caused him! The day of joy has arrived! Let no one be guilty of causing sorrow and grief to another person. This is a cloudless and bright day!
"Let anger be stilled for it disturbs peace and tranquility. This is the day in which God descended to sinners! Let the righteous man be ashamed to exalt Himself over sinners. This is the day when the Lord of creation came to servants! Let the master of the house humble himself in similar love to his servants. This is the day on which the Wealthy One became poor for our sake! Let not the rich be ashamed to share their table with the poor.
St. Ephraim the Syrian*
Now then, I’ve mentioned before that God often speaks to me through things I read, religious and secular. He gets my attention by very specifically addressing things I’ve been dwelling on. Not necessarily things I’ve prayed about, although those do come up, but anything that I’ve obsessed ((read as “whined”)) over, worried about, talked about incessantly to my friends…I suppose those must be topics I’m scared to talk to Him directly about so I bitch until He gets tired of hearing it.
He has no problems addressing them to me directly and He is loud and clear. And to think I used to think God didn’t speak to me. Nowadays I kind of double check everything because, frankly, I don’t want to be one of those people who make people think they are crazy by always saying “God said to me the other day…”
~sigh~ Anyway, lately I have been dwelling a lot on ((read as “bitching a lot about”)) a grievous wrong that was done and continues to be done to me. I mean, let’s face it. The situation and the players in it are about as wrong as they can be at the moment and they know it and so does everyone else.
So I stumbled across this quote, along with several others on the Nativity of the Lord while I was searching for quotes on “expectation”. Ironically, I have no idea what I was “expecting” to find. Definitely not a page full of quotes about the Incarnation of the Lord.
The purpose of the advent of the Saviour, when He gave us His life-giving commandments as purifying remedies in our passionate state, was to cleanse the soul from the damage done by the first transgression and bring it back to its original state. What medicines are for a sick body, that the commandments are for the passionate soul.
St. Isaac of
I think I am commanded to let it go. Let it go and see where I am rich instead of where I am poor. Let it go and find again my peace and tranquility. Let it go and not be guilty of causing sorrow and grief by persecuting my neighbor with revenge for the wrong they have done me. Let it go and allow my self-inflicted, passion-induced wounds to be cleansed and healed.
…Make [me] worthy, Lord, to celebrate and to conclude in peace the feast which magnifies the rising of Thy light, by avoiding empty words, working with justice, fleeing from the passions, and raising up the spirit above earthly goods...
From an ancient Syriac liturgy*
Easier said than done. But He regularly asks us to do what appears impossible and then practically does it for us, doesn't He?
Lord have mercy on me, a sinner.
*All quotes from Gleanings from Orthodox Christian Authors and the Holy Fathers
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