28th September

Seek The Supreme Illumination

I pray that you may have the power to understand how broad and long, how high and deep, is Christ’s love. Yes, may you… be completely filled with the very nature of God. Ephesians 3: 17, 18, 19.

To receive and be aware of the light of Christ within one, it is necessary to withdraw from outward things, as far as this can be done. After purifying one’s soul by contrition and good works and proclaiming one’s faith in Christ crucified, a person should shut their eyes and concentrate on bringing their mind down into the depths of their heart, ardently calling on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then according to the ardour of their heart for the Beloved, they will find a sweetness, through inviting the Name, that evokes a longing to seek the supreme illumination. When the mind is concentrated in the heart through this exercise, then the light of Christ begins to shine, lighting up the temple of the soul with its radiance.

Lost in contemplation of the uncreated Beauty, a person forgets the things of the senses, even themself, and prefers to be buried in the earth rather than lose their unique treasure – God.
St. Seraphim of Zarov

Faith with action, desire with constancy, calmness with devotion, chastity with humility, fasting with moderation, poverty with generosity, silence with discussion, distribution with equality, endurance without grievance, abstinence with exposure, zeal without severity, gentleness with justice, confidence without neglect, fear without despair, poverty without pride, confession without excuse, teaching with practice, progress without slipping, lowliness towards the haughty, smoothness towards the rough, work without grumbling, simpleness with wisdom, humility without favouritism, the Christian life without pretence -all these are contained in holiness. It is then that a person is holy, when he or she is full of divine love.
Colman mac Beognae The Alphabet of Devotion

May I be lost in wonder, love and praise