The Life Giving Springs

St. Theodoros the Great Ascetic 66

The Philokalia

Volume 2

St. Theodoros The Great Ascetic

A Century of Spiritual Texts #66

pg. 26

Retreat Conference - HOMILY

Retreat Conference was done by Fr. Deacon Edward Kleinguetl.

Retreat Conference No. 4 - SET THE EARTH ON FIRE

Retreat Conference was done by Fr. Deacon Edward Kleinguetl.

 

RETREAT CONFERENCE NO. 4

To Set the Earth on fire

 

“I have come to set the earth on fire.”

(Luke 12:49)

“We are not to end up as slaves of a de-souled culture.” [1]

(Jacques Maritain)

“I have a single burning desire: to change the world by changing a single person—myself.”

(St. Sophrony Sakharov of Essex)

 

Reflection

            As a final thought on finding the right path, consider the following by Sr. Ruth Burrows:

If we could start from scratch, with no preconceived notions of the route, and if our hearts were firmly fixed on our journey’s end, with Gospel in hand we would have no further need of route marking, no need of signposts. Jesus himself, through his Holy Spirit, would guide our hearts aright. And even now I am convinced that anyone who truly seeks God rather than himself will find him, and this in spite of being directed in wrong paths. The Holy Spirit will lead him, secretly, probably painfully, but most surely.

The trouble is so very few of us really do seek God. We want something for ourselves and this is why we are anxious to be told the way. We want the path marked out for us, securely walled in, with not a chance of going astray. We are so anxious for this that we cannot afford to listen to the Lord guiding us from within. If we did listen then we would realize that we were merely going around in circles within the given confines, and that if we would find God, we must venture out into the trackless, unknown wastes. While we are busy circuiting the well-worn track described for us by others, we cannot conceive what it is like outside, or even that there is one. So, to some extent, signpost must replace signpost. On each signpost one word only will be written, however; the name of Jesus, for he alone is the way; there is no other.^[2]

            Jesus alone is the way, indeed. There is no other. Without him, we are lost, without a clue of where we are going.[3]

Reflection Questions

Spend time with the following questions:

1. Am I living in friendship with Jesus Christ? Is he truly the center of my life or are other things more important?

 

 

 

2. As a parish, what should be our mission in 2025, as we commemorate our 100-year anniversary? What is our outreach to a world in need of healing?

 

 

 

3. What are the unique gifts that we as Byzantine Catholics can offer the Church and world?

 

 

[1]Jacques Maritain, Freedom in the Modern World (New York, NY: Charles Scribner & Sons, 1936), 133.

[2]Sr. Ruth Burrows, OCD, To Believe in Jesus (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2010), xii.

[3]See Daniel M. Rogich, The Walking Saint: Patriarch Pavle of Serbia (Canton, OH: Hesychia Press, 2019), 83. “Without Christ, we travelers wander hither and thither, but from where to where? No one has a clue! With him, we travelers journey ‘on the narrow and hard path which leads to life.’” Reference to Matt. 7:14.

Retreat Conference No. 3 - THE LIFE

Retreat Conference was done by Fr. Deacon Edward Kleinguetl.

 

RETREAT CONFERENCE NO. 3

The Life

 

“My words are spirit and life.”

(John 6:63)

“The world within you is what matters. God is so far away, and yet there is nothing closer to man than God.” ^[1]

(Elder Arsenie Papacioc)

 “I have a single burning desire: to change the world by changing a single person—myself.”

 (St. Sophrony Sakharov of Essex)

 

 

Reflection

            St. Mary Magdalene from a Homily by St. Gregory the Great:

When Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and did not find the Lord’s body, she thought it had been taken away and so informed the disciples. After they came and saw the tomb, they too believed what Mary had told them. The text then says: ‘The disciples went back home,’ and it added: ‘but Mary wept and remained standing outside the tomb.’

We should reflect on Mary’s attitude and the great love she had for Christ; for though the disciples had left the tomb, she remained. She was still seeking the one she had not found, and while she sought, she wept; burning with the fire of love, she longed for him whom she thought had been taken away. And so it happened that the woman who stayed behind to seek Christ was the only one to see him. For perseverance is essential to any good deed as the voice of truth tells us: ‘Whoever perseveres to the end will be saved.’

At first, she sought but did not find Jesus, but when she persevered, it happened that she found what she was looking for. When our desires are not satisfied, they grow stronger, and becoming stronger, they take hold of their object. Holy desires likewise grow with anticipation, and if they do not grow, they are not really desires. Anyone who succeeds in gaining the truth has burned with such a love. As David said: ‘My soul has thirsted for the living God.’ And ‘When shall I come and appear before the face of God?’ And so also in the Song of Songs, the Church says, ‘I was wounded by love;’ and again, ‘My soul is melted with love.’

‘Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?’ She is asked why she is sorrowing so that her desire might be strengthened; for when she mentions whom she is seeking, her love kindled all the more ardently.

Jesus says to her, ‘Mary.’ Jesus is not recognized when he calls her ‘woman,’ so he calls her by name, as though he were saying, ‘Recognize me as I recognize you; for I do not know you as I know the others; I know you as yourself.’ And so Mary, once addressed by name, recognizes who is speaking. She immediately calls him ‘rabboni,’ that is to say, ‘teacher,’ because the one whom she sought outwardly was the one who inwardly taught her to keep on searching.[2]

            St. Mary Magdalene provides us with an example of holy desire: a deep-seated longing, a heart enflamed with love for Christ. She had a childlike trust in Jesus, the one he taught her inwardly to seek. She persevered when the others did not, thus becoming the first disciple to see the Risen Jesus and proclaim the Resurrection. This is the spiritual disposition we need to gain the abundant life—consumed with love for Christ and holy desire, a properly ordered desire centered on Christ and the not the world.[3] According to what our Savior sees within us, he will reward us according to our desire and love.[4] As a Passionist nun advised: “Let us hasten to submerge ourselves in this infinite ocean (of God’s love) and not wait for eternity, because we can do it now. Love surrounds us always; it is in us; it is the movement that gives life to our being.”[5]

 

Reflection Question

Spend time with the following question:

1. What do I desire in life and how do I prioritize this? Do I express my desires to Christ?

 

[1]Alpetri, Eternity in the Moment, 234.

[2]St. Gregory the Great, Homily 25. Taken from The Liturgy of the Hours, vol. 3 (New York, NY: Catholic Book Publishing Corp., 1975), 1543-4.

[3]See Col. 3:1-2. “Seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.”

[4]See St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, A Gathering of Spiritual Riches, 347. “The Christian needs to live piously, humbly, lovingly, meekly, and patiently on earth if he wishes to enter the kingdom of heaven. This way is narrow and humble, but safe, and it leads into the kingdom of God.”

[5]Venerable Mary Magdalen of Jesus in the Eucharist, CP, “Apostle to the Apostles, Apostle of Love,” Magnificat 25(5) July (2023), 326-7.

Retreat Conference No. 2 - THE WAY

Retreat Conference was done by Fr. Deacon Edward Kleinguetl.

 

RETREAT CONFERENCE NO. 2

The Way

 

“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

(Luke 9:23)

“One of man’s greatest mistakes is that he runs from the Cross, he flees suffering. The Savior says, ‘Take up your Cross and follow me!’ He does not say, ‘Take up your walking stick!’” ^[1]

(Elder Arsenie Papacioc)

“The cross is not only the endurance of suffering but also a fight to overcome suffering, wickedness, lack of fulfillment, and infirmity in our life.” ^[2]

(Patriarch Daniel of Romania)

 

Reflection

            In a letter to her sister, Céline, St. Thérèse of Lisieux captured many of the ideas we discussed in this conference.

Céline! Let us make use of Jesus’s preference, which has taught us so many things in so few years, and let us neglect nothing that can please him. Let us be adorned with the Sun of his love! This sun is burning, let us be consumed by love. St. Francis de Sales says: “When the fire of love is in a heart, all the furniture flies out the windows: Oh, let us allow nothing, nothing in our heart except Jesus.

Let us not believe we can love without suffering, without suffering much. Our nature is our riches, our means of earning our bread. It is so precious that Jesus came on earth purposely to take possession of it. And still we would like to suffer grandly! Céline, what an illusion! We’d never want to fall? What does it matter, my Jesus, if I fall at each moment; I see my weakness through this, and this is a great gain for me. You can see through this what I can do and now you will be more tempted to carry me in your arms. Then I am not going to be disturbed but I shall always stretch out my arms suppliant and filled with love. I cannot believe that you would abandon me.

It was when the saints were at the feet of our Lord that they encountered their crosses. Sanctity does not consist in saying beautiful things, it does not even consist in thinking them, in feeling them. It consists in suffering and suffering everything. Sanctity! We must conquer it at the point of the sword; we must suffer. A day will come when the shadows will disappear, and there will remain only joy, inebriation. Let us profit from our one moment of suffering. Let us see only each moment. A moment is a treasure. One act of love will make us know Jesus better, it will bring us closer to him during the whole of eternity.[3]

            St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, a Carmelite nun, is known for her little way, doing small things with great love. She is an example of someone who embraced childlike simplicity. In her autobiography, she provided a wonderful explanation of this:

You know, Mother, I have always wanted to be a saint. Alas! I have always noticed when I compare myself to the saints, there is between them and me the difference that exists between a mountain whose summit is lost in the clouds and the obscure grain of sand trampled underfoot by passersby. Instead of becoming discouraged, I said to myself: God cannot inspire unrealizable desires. I can … in spite of my littleness, aspire to holiness. It is impossible for me to grow up, and I must bear with myself, such as I am with all my imperfections. But I wanted to seek out a means of going to heaven by a little way, a way that is very straight, very short, and totally new …. I wanted to find an elevator which would raise me to Jesus, for I am too small to climb the rough stairway of perfection. I searched, then, in the Scriptures for some sign of this elevator, the object of my desires, and I read these words coming from the mouth of Eternal Wisdom: ‘Whoever is a LITTLE ONE, let him come to me’ (Prov. 9:4). And so I succeeded. I felt I had found what I was looking for. But wanting to know, O my God, what you would do to the very little one who answered your call, I continued my search, and this is what I discovered: ‘As one whom a mother caresses, so will I comfort you; you will be carried at the breasts, and upon the knees they shall caress you’ (Is. 66:13,12). Ah! Never did words more tender and melodious come to give joy to my soul. The elevator which must raise me to heaven is your arms, O Jesus! And for this I had not needed to grow up, but rather I had to remain little and become this more and more.[4]

In summary, St. Paisios the Athonite said, “Humility is the single most important virtue; but since this is not easily understood, then I would also add love. Yet, doesn’t one who has humility, also have love?”^[5]

Reflection Questions

Spend time with the following question:

1. How would I describe my spiritual life? Is it frantic? Do I “do” without much listening to Jesus? How can I slow down? How can I be more open to Jesus, making single, incremental steps with him instead of without?

 

[1]Sorin Alpetri, Eternity in the Moment: The Life and Wisdom of Elder Arsenie Papacioc, trans. Hieromonk Ieremia Berbec and Simona Irime (Platina, CA: St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 2018), 237.

[2]Patriarch Daniel of Romania, Reflection, Sunday of the Triumph of the Cross, Basilica News Agency (March 19, 2023).

[3]St. Thérèse of Lisieux, “The Sword that Brings Sanctity,” Magnificat 25(5) July (2023), 262-3.

[4]St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Story of a Soul, 3rd ed., trans. John Clarke, OCD (Washington, DC: ICS Publications, 1996), 207-8.

[5]St. Paisios the Athonite, “Passions and Virtues,” Spiritual Counsels, vol. 5, trans. Fr. Peter Chamberas, ed. Anna Famellos and Eleftheria Kaimakliotis (Souroti, Thessaloniki, Greece: Holy Hesychasterion Evangelist John the Theologian, 2016), 169.

Retreat Conference No. 1 - THE TRUTH

Retreat Conference was done by Fr. Deacon Edward Kleinguetl.

RETREAT CONFERENCE NO. 1

The Truth

 

“Jesus said, ‘No one comes to the Father except through me.’”

(John 14:6)

“Sober up, while there is still time, and look for the heavenly blessings.” [1]

(St. Tikhon of Zadonsk)

“Faith is not a simple statement of words, a simple intellectual conviction. The right faith is a living relationship with the ever-living God.” [2]

(Patriarch Daniel of Romania)

 

 

Reflection

From St. John of Kronstadt: Learning to Live Wisely.

The usual methods that people of our time use to drive away their sorrows are parties, cards, dancing, and theaters. But these entertainments only increase the anguish and weariness of their hearts. If they fortuitously turn to God, then the heaviness falls away from their hearts, and only then do they clearly see the heaviest burden that was previously lying on their heart, though they did not feel it. O, how many people have ‘forsaken God, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no living water.’ There are many such broken cisterns—nearly everyone has his own. The broken cisterns are our hearts, our passions.^[3]

When the heart is occupied with worldly things, especially superfluous ones, it forsakes the Lord—the Source of life and peace—and is therefore deprived of life and tranquility, of light and strength. But when it repents of its care for vain things and wholly turns from corruptible things to the incorruptible God, then the fountain of living water again begins to flow into it, and peace, consolation, light, strength, and boldness before God and man once more dwell within it. We must live wisely.^[4]

Worldly cares obscure the mental horizon of our soul; like fog, they darken the eyes of our heart and bind our soul.^[5]

And from St. Paisios the Athonite:

The answer to our anxiety is not drugs, alcohol, tranquilizers, or psychiatric treatment. It will not be cured by yoga or some new age or Eastern meditation practice. The problem is that we have lost God at the center of our lives. Once we make our love of God the primary focus of our life and allow his grace to work through us, then no matter what circumstances we encounter in life, we will be comforted and embraced by his love. All anxiety disappears. This is the aim of the spiritual life—to put God first and seek the Holy Spirit. The anxieties of modern life are only symptoms of our separation from God.^[6]

Have we lost God at the center of our lives? Have those around us lost him? Jesus is the answer. The Holy Fathers are clear in their warnings about a life separated from God. We must choose which of the two ways we will follow: the well-traveled, wide road leading to destruction—the choice of self-sufficiency and separation from God, or the narrow road that few will find, leading to eternal life.^[7]

Reflection Question

Spend some time with the following question:

1. Who am I more afraid of offending: Jesus, who has proven his great love for us through his death and resurrection, or the voices in secular society who advocate political correctness and embrace immoral behavior?

 

[1]St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, A Gathering of Spiritual Riches, trans. Seraphim F. Englehardt (Jordanville, NY: Holy Trinity Publications, 2023), 69.

[2]Patriarch Daniel (Ciobotea) of Romania, Reflection, Fifth Sunday after Easter, Basilica News Agency (May 28, 2023).

[3]St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ, Part 1, 55-6. Reference to Jer. 2:13.

[4]Ibid., 143.

[5]Ibid., 248.

[6]See St. Paisios the Athonite, “With Pain and Love for Contemporary Man,” Spiritual Counsels, vol. 1, trans. Cornelia A. Tsakiridou and Maria Spanou, ed. Fr. Peter Chamberas and Eleftheria Kaimakliotis (Souroti, Thessaloniki, Greece: Holy Hesychasterion Evangelist John the Theologian, 2019), 174-75.

[7]See Matt. 7:13-14.

 

Homily - Feast Day - St. Nicholas

St. Theodoros the Great Ascetic 65

The Philokalia

Volume 2

St. Theodoros The Great Ascetic

A Century of Spiritual Texts #65

pg. 25

Homily - 28th Sunday after Pentecost

Homily - Thanksgiving Day - Lk 17-12-19

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

27th Suanday After Pentecost - Litany Of Peace - Ending

St. Theodoros the Great Ascetic 64

The Philokalia

Volume 2

St. Theodoros The Great Ascetic

A Century of Spiritual Texts #64

pg. 25