A Word of Benefit – The Spiritual Life
A Word of Benefit – The Spiritual Life¹
The Spiritual Life
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It is a continuous journey toward God. It is continual progress toward infinity. It is an unceasing striving toward perfection, and perfection has no limits. Therefore, in the spiritual life, the one who stands still is of no use, nor the one who sits or sleeps. Rather, it requires a person who always strives with all his strength…
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It is a transition from a perfection to a better perfection… It is always linked to growth. The spiritual life is not that you live a virtuous life, but that you move from a virtuous life to a better one, then better still… without limit… It is summarized in one phrase said by the Apostle Paul: “I press on toward what is ahead… I strive toward the goal.”
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Wretched is the person who spends his whole life resisting sin… It is required that he finish with sin and enter into the life of righteousness. Then he grows in the life of righteousness until he reaches perfection. And he progresses from relative perfection, striving toward absolute perfection, which he will never reach… Therefore the righteous person continually feels that he is sinful and deficient, because the goal before him is still far away…
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The spiritual person struggles with all his capabilities, and does not suffice with them but always expands the scope of his capabilities, trying to find for himself new capabilities… And in all this he wrestles with himself and wrestles with the grace working in him. He strives with God so that He may bring him as He brought the saints.
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Do not delay on the path of the spiritual life. Do not stand still, and do not be distracted by the scenery of the road. Do not allow either your enemies or your loved ones to hinder you. Say to them as Eliezer of Damascus said to the household of Rebekah: “Do not hinder me, for the Lord has prospered my way” (Gen. 24:56). Remember the saying of the Lord Christ: “Greet no one on the road” (Lk. 10:4). Do not be preoccupied with a relative or a loved one, but repeat the saying of the Apostle Peter to the Lord: “We have left everything and followed You” (Mt. 19:27), (Mk. 10:28), (Lk. 18:28)…
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The Samaritan woman did not wish for the jar to hinder her, so she left it at the well and hurried to preach Christ.
And we have many jars: whenever one becomes empty of water, we fill it again. We do not leave the well, nor do we leave the jars, nor do we leave the water. And we do not walk on the road, nor do we preach Christ. -
Believe me, the whole lifetime is not enough to complete our path toward God. So how great is our loss regarding those years that we have wasted from our lives, which are the strongest hours of life, the most energetic, and the greatest in reward…
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Very often, the purest times of ours are the times in which we speak about the road, its beauty, and its spirituality, without walking in this road…!! We are merely scholars, attending lessons and delivering them to people…?!
¹ An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – in Al-Keraza Magazine – Year Five – Issue Three – 19-10-1974.
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