Just breathe…

A bit of serenity from the Desert Fathers and Mothers

1) Evagrius Ponticus wrote, “A prisoner in chains cannot run. Neither can a mind incarcerated by emotion discover the place of spiritual prayer. Impassioned thoughts abuse it roughly. It cannot be resolute and serene.” He also wrote: “When your attention wanders, pray. As Paul wrote, ‘pray with fear and trembling’ sincerely and carefully. This is the way we should pray, because evil forces are attempting to hold us back.”

2) Brother John Climacus said, “When you pray, forget how you may appear to others. Concentrate entirely on your prayer, withdrawing into your heart. Demons fear spiritual concentration more than thieves fear dogs.

3) John the Dwarf asked God to mitigate his passions. He became calm and imperturbable. He told a hermit, “I now rest in peace. There is no struggle between my flesh and my spirit.”

The hermit replied, “Pray that the Lord will start a new war in you. Struggle is good for the soul.”

When the old conflicts returned John did not pray that God would take them away. Instead, he prayed, “Lord, give me the strength to survive this battle.”

The old conflicts always do return, don’t they? Two steps forward, one step back.

One more: Amma Macrina gave exclusive attention to God through constant prayer and chanting of the Psalms night and day. It was both work and rest.

I am going to put today away and try to live out the rest of it away from news, twitter, computers, all of the distractions that have entertained me and kept me thoroughly distracted from what God may be trying to teach me, to say to me. And from settling down so that my own mind may be cleared.

Baseball tonight. Before then, I am being quiet.

DISCLAIMER: The US Government may rest easily, secure in the knowledge that I purchased this book on my own, and that no publisher or writer has gifted me with a copy of it, which would have thus corrupted this post with filthy lucre. While there may be a blogger somewhere, who has somehow managed to score tickets to Disney World or free computers, I am not one of them. Recent purchases of this book, via my association with Amazon have netted me profits ranging from .27 cents to .72 cents, for a total of $1.04.

It’s interesting, isn’t it, that the same government that won’t do anything about Charlie Rangel’s corruption, tax-evasion, etc is so concerned that a blogger might get a free book to review?

There, I feel more peaceful already! :-)