Superb group tonight! Thank you all so much for the wonderful comments and questions on two very challenging steps.
Synopsis:
We continued this evening reading Step 2 on Detachment and the beginning of Step 3 on Exile. Saint John makes it very clear to us that detachment from the things of this world and seeing ourselves as living in exile are rooted not in a hatred of the world or of others but rather in our desire for the perfect love of Christ.
Our passions draw us back again and again to the sickness of our sin. Even when we have left many things behind we can feel a very tangible pull back to them. Therefore, St. John tells us that we must embrace Christ with an unconditional and absolute love and devotion; as He has given his love unconditionally and without limit.
All things begin and end with love. Our asceticism, all of our disciplines, must be rooted in this love otherwise we will find ourselves isolated from others and from God. Even the monks who embraced the deepest solitude of the desert understood that they did so as part of the body of Christ; that the embrace of deep solitude and silence brought them to a greater intimacy with every other person and allowed them to see the action of God within the world and creation.
The break from the world of which these first three steps speak is meant to allow us to run freely and swiftly toward Christ, our Beloved.
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Text of chat during the group:
Letters of Spiritual Direction to a Young Soul - Letter Thirty-eight Part II and Letter Thirty-nine Part I
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Seventy-six Part I
Letters of Spiritual Direction to a Young Soul - Letter Thirty-seven Part II and Letter Thirty-eight Part I
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Seventy-five Part IV
Letters of Spiritual Direction to a Young Soul - Letter Thirty-seven Part I
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Seventy-five Part III
Letters of Spiritual Direction to a Young Soul - Letter Thirty-five Part I
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Seventy-five Part II
Letters of Spiritual Direction to a Young Soul - Letter Thirty-four Part I
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Seventy-four Part IV and Homily Seventy-five Part I
Letters of Spiritual Direction to a Young Soul - Letter Thirty-three Part II
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Seventy-four Part III
Letters of Spiritual Direction to a Young Soul - Letter Thirty-two Part II and Letter Thirty-three Part I
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Seventy-four Part II
Letters of Spiritual Direction to a Young Soul - Letter Thirty-one Part II and Letter Thirty-two Part I
A Special Message from Philokalia Ministries
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Seventy-three and Homily Seventy-four Part I
Letters of Spiritual Direction to a Young Soul - Letter Thirty-one Part I
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Seventy-two Part IV
Letters of Spiritual Direction to a Young Soul - Letter Thirty Part II
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