By St. John Chrysostom
The remembrance of the name of Jesus rouses the enemy to battle. For a soul that forces itself to pray the Prayer of Jesus can find anything by this prayer, both good and evil. First it can see evil in the recesses of its own heart, and afterwards good. This prayer can stir the snake to action, and this prayer can lay it low. This prayer can expose the sin that is living in us, and this prayer can eradicate it. This prayer can stir up in the heart all the power of the enemy, and this prayer can conquer it and gradually root it out. The name of the Lord Jesus Christ, as it descends into the depths of the heart, will subdue the snake which controls its ranges, and will save and quicken the soul. Continue constantly in the name of the Lord Jesus that the heart may swallow the Lord and the Lord the heart, and that these two may be one. However, this is not accomplished in a single day, nor in two days, but requires many years and much time. Much time and labor are needed in order to expel the enemy and instate Christ.
Letter to Monks (PG 60, p. 753).
I saw this on the Blog Milk and Honey and thought it was a good thought for this blog as well.
Amen to that. Very uplifting.
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ReplyDeleteIn reading an article on your site, I noticed that you said in speaking of angels that "they are active spirits with intelligence, will and knowledge ... angels are bodiless and invisible to our physical eyes." Yet angels appeared to people throughout the Old and New Testaments so they likely were able to have some form to be seen. Also, so say that angels "have no bodily needs or desires and passions,..." is foolish for was not the angel of light, Lucifer, caught up by his desires that led to pride and his downfall?
ReplyDeleteSome believe and it is debated whether 'the sons of God" as spoken of in the Old Testament who mated with the "daughters of men' -- if these is true then angels do indeed "possess the impulse and cravings for [sex, if not]procreation.
"...they are not faltering between good and evil, being already good and holy as when God created them. If this is true then Lucifer could not have fallen prey to his own pride and warred against God!
Angels do have free will so can reject God. This has nothing to do with bodily needs, it is a matter of pride.
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