Spiritual Watchfulness (3)
Spiritual Watchfulness (3)
In the previous issue, we spoke about spiritual watchfulness, its importance, and its hindrances. In this lecture, we would like to speak about the motives for spiritual watchfulness and its causes.
So what are these motives and causes?
The first motive: The love of God
Sometimes a person feels ashamed of God’s love and care for him despite his sins. This love shakes the depths of his soul, and his conscience awakens. He feels ashamed before God who still has compassion on him while he is in the depth of his fall. He says to Him, “I am ashamed before You, O Lord. You have dealt with me in a way that put me to shame. From now on, I am a captive of Your love.”
Among the people whom the love of God awakened was Zacchaeus the tax collector.
He was immersed in injustice and cruelty. He went to see Christ not out of love, but merely out of curiosity. All he wanted was to see Christ, so he climbed a tree to see Him. He was surprised that this great and famous man, the worker of miracles, stood at his place, called him by name, and invited Himself to his house. He declared before the people that He would visit Zacchaeus the sinner, the tax collector, and dine in his house. This love and this noble gesture captivated him, so he confessed his sins—without Christ reproaching him—restored the injustice that was in his house, repented, and salvation happened to the people of that house.
There are people like Zacchaeus whom the love of God attracts. And there are others—on the contrary—whom His rejection attracts.
The second motive: The rejection of God
Some people exploit love as a path to carelessness and indifference, whereas punishment awakens them. A severe blow, a trial, or rejection awakens them.
Of this type was Mary the Egyptian. She was living in extreme corruption. Then she went to Jerusalem to visit and to practice her corruption amid the crowds. When she reached the icon, she was unable to advance to receive the blessing. Her feet were fixed to the ground, and she could not move forward. She felt that God had rejected her, so her heart was broken, and she resolved to repent. Then her feet moved. She felt that the path of her sin would destroy her. She repented, became a nun, and became a wandering saint.
There are also people whom the rejection of the Church awakens, such as Saint Martha.
She was a sinful woman, a singer and a companion of princes. When she went to the church, the subdeacon prevented her from entering. She complained, and the bishop heard her and said to her, “You do not deserve to enter because you are a sinful woman.” She was deeply affected by this rejection and said, “I will no longer sin.” He ordered her to bring all her possessions and burn them outside the church as unclean things. She said to herself, “If they have done this to you on earth, how great will your punishment be in heaven!” She repented and became a saint.
There are also those whom blows benefit by awakening them.
The third motive: Blows and tribulations
Perhaps at the forefront of these blows is failure. As the Scripture says about the sinner, he is nothing but defeated and broken all his days (Deut. 28). Every work his hand reaches fails. The blessing of God departs from him and leaves him to failure and loss, so he comes to himself feeling abandonment, his soul is broken, and he repents. An example of those whom failure awakened is Joshua, when his army was defeated before the small village of Ai. He felt the anger of God because of sin in their midst, so he worked to purify and cleanse the camp. If you are a failure, O brother, awaken. If you find all doors closed before you, return to God who opens and no one shuts.
There are people who, when failure pursues them, resort to magic and sorcery instead of resorting to God through repentance. But the children of God benefit from their failure by returning to the Lord.
Others are led to repentance by tribulations and sorrows, such as the brothers of Joseph the righteous, who, when they fell into distress and the hand was heavy upon them, remembered their sin against their brother whom they had not shown mercy. How many people—like these—when a tribulation befalls them, their conscience awakens and they say, “This is the sin against so-and-so whom I wronged, or the sin against so-and-so whom I dismissed while tears were in his eyes.”
Among the examples of those whom tribulations brought back is the prodigal son. He did not return until he became hungry. Likewise, Samson did not repent until his eyes were gouged out and he was humiliated. Among the kinds of tribulations that may bring a person back to God are illnesses, accidents, and the death of loved ones. Among those who awakened as a result of illness was King Ahab, whom God forgave at that time, even though he later returned and sinned.
Among the kinds of tribulations that may awaken a person is the gloating of enemies. An example of this is Saint James the Struggler, who came to himself when Satan gloated over him after his fall.
If tribulations lead to watchfulness, will you, O brother, wait until tribulations press upon you so that you awaken, or is it better that you awaken now without forcing God to use this method with you?
The fourth motive: The work of the saints and their intercessions
A lost person may not think about his eternity, and perhaps if left to himself, he would continue in his lost life, his conscience neither awakening nor troubling him. He remains thus until the saints intervene in his life—either the spirits of the departed saints intercede for him, or the living saints strive to save him.
An example of this is Saint Paesia.
She was a very rich, very pure, and very generous girl. She continued to spend her wealth on the poor and on hosting strangers. Gradually, Satan entered her heart and caused her to fall with those guests who frequented her house, then it developed into a life of corruption. She lost her wealth and ended up in a house of prostitution.
When the holy elders of the desert of Scetis heard about her, they prayed much for her and sent Saint John the Short to save her. He entered to her disguised in secular clothing and sat silently. Then he said to her, “My daughter, why did Satan mislead you until you sold Christ for this cheap price?” He looked at her and burst into tears. She could not bear his weeping and realized that he had come to save her. She said to him, “My father, can there be repentance for me?” He said to her, “Yes, but not in this place.”
Paesia awakened, her heart moved with repentance, so she left the place and went out with the saint to the desert. When night overtook them, he left her to sleep in one place and withdrew to another place far from her and slept. He saw in a vision a great light extending between heaven and earth, and angels ascending with the soul of Paesia. He knew that she had died. He went to where she was and found her dead. He went and informed the saints of her matter, and her story was written in the Synaxarion.
This poor woman was awakened by the prayers of the saints and their tears. Similar to her, to some extent, is the story of Saint Thaïs.
She also was not awakened by her conscience, but rather by Saint Bessarion, who went to her in her sinful place disguised as a soldier. He did not speak to her or argue with her, but stood praying his psalms. At the end of each psalm, he prostrated with his face to the ground and said, “O Lord, save this poor woman.” Thaïs awakened. She was shaken by the reverence of the saint, his prayers, and his prostrations.
The result was that he took her out of that place and brought her into a house for virgins. He went to Saint Abba Anthony and told him the news. These two saints, together with Saint Abba Paul the Simple, fasted for three days for the Lord to reveal to them her condition. After the fast, Abba Paul the Simple came to his teacher Saint Anthony and said to him, “The Lord has accepted the repentance of Thaïs.” He explained the matter, saying, “I saw in a vision many saints sitting on their thrones, and among them a high throne on which no one was sitting. The angel who was explaining the vision to me asked me, ‘Who do you think is the owner of this throne?’ I said to him, ‘It must be my father Abba Anthony.’ He said to me, ‘No, it is the throne of Thaïs the repentant.’”
It is the love of the saints for sinners and their prayers for them that awaken them from their heedlessness, if they do not awaken of their own accord.
Others are awakened by sacred memories
At such times, a person remembers his first love and the depth of his spiritual life in the past, and his heart may move and awaken. Perhaps an old notebook of meditations falls into his hands, and as he rereads it, his soul is shaken from within and he awakens. He may come across a picture of himself with spiritual people, reminding him of those happy days.
Mary the sinner was awakened by her uncle Saint Abraham. Merely by looking at the face of the elder and sensing in him the fragrance of the saints and their sweat, she remembered the sweet old days and returned to herself and repented.
The sixth motive: The means of grace
Among the things that also awaken a person are spiritual readings, spiritual meetings, and moving hymns. In this way, Augustine was awakened when he read the life of Saint Abba Anthony and felt the sweetness and depth of the ascetic life that this wondrous man lived. He repented and was changed to the opposite.
All these are external reasons that awaken sinners. There are people who do not awaken except because of an external cause, such as Lot, who did not notice himself and leave Sodom, but rather left because two angels pushed him forcefully outside to leave the doomed city.
As for you, do not wait until God sends you two angels to take you out of Sodom, but awaken yourself. Arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.
An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – Al-Keraza Magazine – Fifth Year – Issue Three – 19 October 1974
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