Page Title

Text Box: one which is broken by something or someone, but you do not expect, in the normal course of life, to have to rebuild a house, or build another. And when a battle has been won, it should remain won. When you have defeated the enemy in a war, the enemy should remain defeated. But, for spiritual war, such is not reality, for the spiritual war for the salvation of your soul is an underlying war which will continue to the instant of the death of your body. If you have won at that time, neither the Devil, nor his allies, nor your more base inclinations, can change that outcome. And you will never have to battle again. + + +

Text Box: With this issue of REUNION, and the immediately prior issue, we have made an open confrontation for the purpose of stimulating your thought process, and hopefully your realization of how desperate is the moral situation the world faces. Even if it were not now Great Lent, now is the time for each of us to engage in the spiritual exercises which spiritually strengthen us. Fast if you are able. But if you are elderly or have a medical condition which could be aggravated even a very little or slightly by fasting, do not fast. Practice abstinence, again, if possible, but not if it could or will even slightly aggravate a medical condition. An incapacitated person can be an inspiration to us all, but usually would be more valuable in prayer. And the dead who are in Heaven probably assist us more than we have the capacity to know, but a live person here physically present gives us great assistance by their example. So, do not endanger your life. But do remember: Fasting and abstinence are tools for subjection of the material or animalistic; tools by which the spirit and soul of a human may gain mastery over the animal part of that human. The opposite approach is to reward the animal part with something it likes but which is spiritually “OK” - giving the reward when the animal in us has behaved or obeyed the spiritual part. The reward is given because the animal either has not done something bad which it desired to do, or has done something good which it did not wish to or was not inclined to do. You therefore should consider and practice the various means by which you can weaken your animalistic inclinations, and strengthen your holy spiritual inclinations. Prayer is a much abused word and concept, and an activity in which few actually engage. The number of times

Text Box: you say “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me a sinner,” or the number of “Hail Mary’s” you recite is not as important as your intellectual and emotional focus while saying the words. Your meditation, thoughts, desires, and mental communication with God re-make the recitation into prayer. Prayer is a multitude of things, but consistent amongst those things is communication with God. That process of communication with God assists in the clarification of your relationship with God, your comprehension of His Awefulness, your respect for Him as well as reinforcing your gratitude to Him. It also assists in clarifying your comprehension of your deficiencies and your strengths, and the means by which you arrest and control your deficiencies while exercising your strengths making them more substantial and useful. Traditionally, this is the time of the liturgical year in which we engage in these strengthening exercises. They also serve as purification exercises, preparing us for the celebration of Pascha. The combination of intentions and effects flowing from the same series of exercises is an example of Divine economy. We should be thankful for this, for, when practiced in the proper spirit, we take on the glow of spiritual health without realizing it until we are tested in an unexpected manner. Then we are like the person who has been gradually working out in the gym, and after a while, finds themselves unexpectedly in a situation where strength and agility are urgently required. They react instinctively using the strength and agility their muscles and body have acquired, but which their conscious mind had no realization was actually there. So, take a spiritual work out. + Paul, S.S.B.

Go to page