This evening we continued and completed Step number 10 on “slander and calumny.” Something very special emerges about John in the writing of this step. We see something very personal about John’s capacity to love and his purity of heart. He acknowledges his own struggle with judging others as sinners, when in reality they were pure of heart in secret. Thus, John’s repeated counsel is not to judge at all; even when we see things with a kind of clarity. We often have blind spots and dark spots in our evaluation of the others. Beyond this, the Evil One puts before us smoke, if you will, making us think that there is sin present where none exist.
All that we are allowed to do is to love others. This means that we always attribute their sin to the action of demons. We are to look for the good in others and look for ways that we can support and lift them up if they are struggling. This means setting aside the morbid delight that we take in judging and the feeling of emotional power that we think it gives us over and against them. We must acknowledge the radical solidarity that exist between us and foster a spirit of generosity towards each other. To seize for ourselves a prerogative that belongs only to God is ruinous to the soul. May God preserve us!
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Text of chat during the group:
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Fifty-two Part VI, Homily 53 and Homily 54 Part I
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Fifty-two Part V
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Fifty-two Part IV
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Fifty-two Part III
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Fifty-two Part II
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Fifty-two Part I
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Fifty-one Part VIII
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Fifty-one Part VII
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Fifty-one Part VI
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Fifty-one Part V
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Fifty-one Part IV
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Fifty-one Part III
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Fifty-one Part II
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Fifty-one Part I
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Fifty
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Forty-nine
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Forty-eight Part VIII
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Forty-eight Part VII
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Forty-eight Part VI
The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Forty-eight Part V
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