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Text Box: bedtime, or occasionally just randomly during the day? If this rarely or never happens to you, then seek a better relationship with God, especially with Jesus Christ; for it is simpler for imperfect humans to relate to a fellow human being even though He also is a Divine Being - simpler than relating to the purely Divine Being in the Person of either the Father or of the Holy Ghost. It is rather difficult to envision or imagine receiving a hug from an entity we are only able to classify as a spirit, and then we are inaccurate because Angels are spirits but God is not like Angels. God is the Divinity - an unclassifiable entity, not so much spirit as not being restrained as that which is corporeal is restrained, nor restrained as that which is spirit is restrained. Which brings us to the, if you want to know God remove everything you have ever seen, then everything you can imagine, then remove the great be empty which results, and look in the nothingness which remains and remove that also, at which time you are at the beginning of that particular journey. But we really do not wish to go there at this time for we are having a sufficiently difficult time trying to hug God in response to His loving hugging of us. That is why it is easier to imaging and envision hugging Jesus. Yes, He is God, but He also is one of us as well. If a person were able to keep and maintain love of and for God, not necessarily foremost in their mind and awareness, but simply resident in their awareness, that person would be virtually incapable of sinning. The effect upon you would be similar to the effect upon you of having your child who is in first grade with you. Even a minimal level of love will prevent one from harming their first grader. It would require a person be totally bereft of love for their child for them to punch the child or even to eat an ice cream in front of the child and not offer the child some. So too is it impossible for a person to sin when they maintain love for God resident within themselves. When we do sin, even those sins which we consider spontaneous - such as the “little

Text Box: white lie” - there is of necessity at the very least a suspension of love for God. If commission of the sin evokes in the sinner a deep regret and some level of self loathing which are founded in love for God, then hope is viable. But if the sinner does not experience some level of regret and self loathing then the sinner simply does not love God. Strange as it may seem it is possible to establish at least a minimal foundation of love for God through simply making yourself aware of God when you awake in the morning and immediately before you go to sleep at night. It will be of assistance to you in this endeavor if you have a crucifix in your bedroom and kiss the feet of the image of Our Lord, saying out loud, “Good morning Lord,” or, “Good night Lord, I love you,” as appropriate. It may seem strange to wish God to have a good morning, but for God the goodness of a day as regards you yourself is dependent on the level of harmony you have with God in that day. If this is your consistent practice in the morning it will attune you to seek harmony with God. And who can kiss the feet of the image of The Crucified at night, and tell Him “Good night Lord, I love you,” and not experience regret for your moral failures during the day, and not resolve to do better, to seek holiness, to seek to be able to regularly experience telling God, “Have I told you lately that I love you.” ++ Lee, S.S.B. God, please help me love You

Text Box: The Virgin Mary loved and loves God. Her love for God was always strong. She made the decision and the choice to love God and to live in that love. She never sinned because her love for God never diminished. We know what sin is because Saint Basil the Great has defined it for us in an extremely clear manner. Sin, according to Saint Basil, is the misuse of powers given us by God for doing good, a use contrary to God’s commandments. For a person who does not love God, or loves a false god, sin is a natural state. For a person who loves God sin may be a sometimes state. The measure of love a person has for God may change in accordance with the person’s conscious and subconscious or “back of the mind” awareness of God, awareness of their love for God, and simple general and specific circumstances. For a person who loves God to sin the measure of love the sinner has for God must be sufficiently low so that the sinner loves the sin, or what ever is anticipated in the sin or as a result of the sin, more than the sinner loves God. When a person who loves God and is aware of their love for God is faced with temptation if their love for God is of sufficient measure the person is able to overcome the temptation. Very often the temptation is “shrugged off” with little apparent effort simply because the temptation can not compete with the love the person has for God. When a person’s measure of love for God is not overabundant the person may struggle with the temptation. If the person consciously contemplates their love for God in the midst of a temptation their ability to overcome the temptation will be enhanced. But it may be an ongoing battle which is part of a life long war. Very often in such circumstances the sinner must diminish what ever love the sinner has for God if the person is to sin. When this happens and the person sins the

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