“…Allow me to repeat the words: ‘Keep your mind in hell, and despair
not‘. Father Sophrony, when he heard these words for the first time, he
felt that they were divine words, not only for St. Silouan and and his own
salvation, but for an entire generation, for all the lack of hope that takes
shape in a world so full of despair, as he knew it then, after the First
World War. I’d like to add these words also: when God says ‘do not despair‘,
I’ve seen many strain themselves – that they were already so stressed, as in
what should I do to not despair so that I don’t make God angry? No, brethren,
it’s not about that, God does not forbid lack of hope, but he tells us
that…we don’t need to lose hope! We don’t need to despair!
When you can’t take it anymore, when you feel you are going crazy… as Fr.
Sophrony once told a hermit: ‘go and make a cup of tea‘. Or, as St. Isaac The
Syrian told another hermit: ‘when you feel that the thoughts of blasphemy are
over-powering you, cover yourself and go to sleep.’ I’ll say also, in our
modern language: ‘Take a nap‘, allow yourself to recover physically, and
then, you continue... Fr. Sophrony told that hermit the things he was
experiencing himself, seeing the spiritual state that he was in (the hermit was
asking for a word on salvation) – he was hosting him, offering him tea, some
biscuits and whatever else he had. So: comfort yourself. And when you
regain strength, you can continue. The same thing he was doing himself.
Continue in what way? Knowing that God’s Providence is working something
which you have not yet discovered.
In the most horrific moments of our lives, not only is it needed to not
lose hope, nor give ourselves over to death, nor lock ourselves in that
despair; but, more so: often times, if not every time, the most horrific
moments of our lives are, potentially, the most demanding. Those are the times
when you have to go on for yet another moment… Think about a sailor who was
caught by a wave on the deck of the ship and for a second or two the deck will
be underwater: well, is that the right time to let go of the pole? No, that’s
not even the moment to try to run so you don’t lose the cabin. No, that’s when
you only do one thing: you hold on to the pole. And you also hold your breath
until the wave passes. When the ship is above the waves again, that’s when you
can go, fast, to the cabin, if the case… So, the hardest, most painful, and
tragic moments, are potentially the most demanding (…)
I’ve talked about our personal lives, but it’s applicable to the world in
general. For, we are talking about an eschatological period, meaning one about
the end …(…) I take it this period, if it’s a tragic one…, actually, no:
the more tragic and cruel it is, the more demanding it will be, not just
concerning our personal lives, but our adamic condition, our history. What
will be? We shall see, but we live with hope in our God.
And we ask God that He cultivates in us that which man cannot accomplish by
himself, according to His word: “With men it is impossible, but not with God;
for with God all things are possible.” And, more so than any other time we
must say this prayer more frequently: “Lord, come and abide in me and You
Yourself work in me the things that are pleasing to You!”. From the things
that are pleasing to God, nowadays, we need Faith that is able to take us
through the hardest events that are becoming more and more unimaginable. Not
only is this not the time to lose hope, but it is the time to hold on to the
pole more than ever, until the wave passes. Who knows what will be and in what
way? The words that remain essential: ‘Keep your mind in hell, and despair
not’ (…)
Since the Industrial Revolution and The First World War a new world has
begun. And, in this world, we try as much as we can to live as our Fathers
did. When we can do something we say: thanks to You, Lord,… when we can’t
do anything: …patience! As Father Cleopa (Ilie) would say: patience,
patience, patience…May The Lord give you and give all of us a comforting divine
Grace, so that we can go through things! The kind of comfort that the sailor
has knowing that the wave will eventually pass, but for now, one thing I know:
to hold on to this pole..”.
source: http://proskynitis.blogspot.de
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