‘We need always to have thoughts of love for our Man has such powers that he can transmit good or evil to his environment. These matters are very delicate. Great care is needed. We need to see everything in a positive frame of mind. We brothers and sisters’
mustn’t think anything evil about others. Even a
simple glance or a sigh influences those around
us. And even the slightest anger or indignation
does harm. We need to have goodness and love in
our soul and to transmit these things.
We need to be careful not to harbour any
resentment against those who harm us, but rather
to pray for them with love. Whatever any of our
fellow man does, we should never think evil of
him. We need always to have thoughts of love
and always to think good of others. Look at Saint
Stephen the first martyr. He prayed, Lord, do not
hold this sin against them (Acts 7:60). We need to do
the same.
We should never think about someone that
God will send him some evil or that God will
punish him for his sin. This thought brings about
very great evil, without our being aware of it. We
often feel indignation and say to someone: ‘Have
you no fear of God’s justice, are you not afraid of
God’s punishment?’ Or else we say, ‘God will
punish you for what you’ve done,’ or, ‘O God, do
not bring evil on that person for what he did to
me,’ or, ‘May that person not suffer the same
thing.’
In all these cases, we have a deep desire
within us for the other person to be punished.
Instead of confessing our anger over his error, we
present our indignation in a different way, and
we allegedly pray to God for him. In reality,
however, in this way we are cursing our brother.
And if, instead of praying, we say, ‘May
God repay you for the evil you have done to me,’
then once again we are wishing for God to punish
him. Even when we say, ‘All very well, God is
witness,’ the disposition of our soul works in a mysterious way and influences the soul of our
fellow man so that he suffers evil.
When we speak evil about someone, an
evil power proceeds from within us and is
transmitted to the other person, just as the voice is
transmitted on sound waves, and in point of fact
the other person suffers evil. It is something like
the bewitchment of the evil eye, when someone
has evil thoughts about others. This occurs
through our own indignation. We transmit our
evil in a mystical way. It is not God who provokes
evil, but rather people’s wickedness. God does
not punish, but our own evil disposition is
transmitted to the soul of the other in a
mysterious way and does evil. Christ never
wishes evil. On the contrary, He commands, Bless
those who curse you... (Mt 5:44).
You see, then, how our evil thoughts, our
evil disposition affect others. That’s why we need
to find the way of purifying the depths of our
soul from every evil. When our soul is sanctified,
it radiates goodness. We then silently emit our
love without words....
Certainly, to begin with this is somewhat
difficult. Remember Saint Paul. That’s what it was
like for him too in the beginning. He said in
distress: For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I
do not want, that I do. And he continues, I see in my
members another law at war with the law of my mind,
making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my
members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue
me from this body of death (Rom 7:19)? He was very
weak then and couldn’t do what was good, even
though he desired it and longed for it.
That is what he said at the beginning. But
when in this way Paul devoted himself ever more
fully to the love and worship of God, God, seeing
the disposition of heart, entered into him and
divine grace came to dwell in him. In this way he
succeeded in living in Christ. Christ Himself entered into him, and the man who had said ‘I
cannot do what is good, even though I desire it’,
succeeded by the grace of God in becoming
incapable of evil. At first he was incapable of
doing what was good, but after Christ entered
within him he became incapable of doing what
was evil. Indeed he proclaimed: It is no longer I
who live; Christ lives in me (Gal 2:20). He
proclaimed boasting that ‘I have Christ in me’
whereas he had previously said: ‘I wanted to do
what was good, but I couldn’t.’ Where did that
‘wretched man that I am’ go? It disappeared. The
grace of God within him completed its work.
From being wretched he became filled with grace.
Grace permeated him, after he had first been
humbled.
Do you see what happens? With the Spirit
of God we all become incapable of every sin. We
are made incapable because Christ dwells within
us. We are henceforth capable only of good. Thus
we will acquire the grace of God and become
possessed by God. If we abandon ourselves to the
love of Christ, then all will be overturned, all will
be transfigured, all will be transformed, all will be
transubstantiated. Anger, resentment, jealousy,
indignation, censure, ingratitude, melancholy and
depression will all become love, joy, longing,
divine eros. Paradise!
-From Wounded By Love: The Life and Wisdom of
Elder Porphyrios, pp. 212-217 (edited)
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