The Beginning of the Spiritual Journey
Main Idea
Pope Shenouda III speaks about the beginning of the spiritual journey and what the first step should be for a person who wants to begin his life with God. He explains that some people see the beginning as repentance, humility and contrition, or self-examination and sitting quietly with oneself, while the saints also spoke about the necessity of forcing oneself to practice spiritual work at the beginning. A person may not initially have a strong desire for prayer, spiritual reading, or virtues, and therefore needs to train himself and not wait for the desire to come first.
Spiritual Message
Pope Shenouda explains that the fear of God may be the beginning of a person’s movement toward spiritual life. The person then begins practicing the virtues until he experiences their beauty and joy, and the practice gradually changes from compulsion to love. Love is the end of the journey, not its beginning; the beginning requires struggle, training, and self-control. God does not forget a person’s labor and struggle, but looks at his patience and determination in worship and considers this part of the holy struggle.
Educational Lesson
The teaching emphasizes the necessity of not pampering oneself or surrendering to every desire or inclination. Just as a child needs training and discipline in order to become accustomed to school, a person also needs to train himself in prayer, spiritual reading, fasting, giving, forgiveness, and leaving sin. With continued training, virtue changes from something difficult into something loved and familiar.
Practical Application
A person should establish a consistent routine for prayer, reading, waking, and worship, and should not allow tiredness, laziness, or a lack of desire to become reasons for abandoning spiritual work. He should also learn to delay responding to wrong desires and not act upon every thought that comes into his mind. Pope Shenouda emphasizes that the greatest battle and the greatest struggle are the battle and struggle with oneself; when a person is able to overcome himself and grow in self-control, he can continue to progress in virtue. In this way, struggling against sinful desires becomes a form of carrying the cross with Christ, until the person reaches a life of virtue and love.
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