Made To Reflect

Whatever has taken place in the history of salvation—whatever was done by Christ, the Father, and the Holy Spirit—must also take place within me. That's what it means for me to participate in the life of God. ... That is what is meant by "Let it be done to me according to your word", which means: "whatever you say, just as you said it. Even though I cannot understand it, let it happen just as you say." Do you have a sense of the self-emptying, the self-surrender that occurs? In response, God says: "Be filled with My grace, My energy; be overshadowed by the Holy Spirit." And this now happens to me. The Divinity bends down over me. I now have a personal experience of the self-emptying of the Divinity, of the divine energy. As a result, the whole of my being receives the radiance, the effulgence of divine energy. This is my divinization, my union with God, in consequence of God’s bending down to me. —The Way of the Spirit, Archimandrite Aimilianos of Simo...

Do not, then, let the serpent of evil thoughts come between you and God . "Adam had open and ceaseless communication with God until the serpent came between them. The serpent’s aim was to destroy Adam’s relationship with God, to steal Adam’s glory, and to bring paradise to ruin. But the serpent got more than he bargained for, since he was utterly trampled down by Christ, the new Adam, and now the doors of paradise stand open to all. Do not, then, let the serpent of evil thoughts come between you and God." —Archimandrite Aimilianos of Simonopetra. The Way of the Spirit: Reflections on Life in God. From my reading this morning. I think about all that's going on in the world, how much conversation revolves around things that separate us—mostly political stuff. I have pretty firm thoughts about good and evil, but what I have been learning in the last 8 years or so (and not yet mastered) is that American politics is at level 0.00000001 in the grand scheme of eternity. What...