First Steps in Nurturing Grace - "Fear" of God

What is meant by "fear of God"?  C.S. Lewis  describes it in his book, The Problem of Pain, and states that fear of the God is not a fear that one feels for a tiger, or even a ghost. It, is one filled with awe, in which you "feel wonder and a certain shrinking" or "a sense of inadequacy to cope with such a visitant of or prostration before it". It is a fear that comes forth out of love for the Lord.


Saint Theophan tells us, as do many other Church Fathers, that having this "fear" is the first step.  It is a feeling that comes with our first encounter with God where we know without doubt that He exists.  It is the beginning of faith which is necessary for grace to work within us.


To nurture this "fear of God" prayer combined with the reading of spiritual books is recommended.  Instead of filling our minds with the endless content of the TV, give up some of this time and instead make time at the beginning of the day for prayer and reading of spiritual books including the Scriptures.
Saint Theophan says,

This reading with prayer preceding strengthens the sole and gives us strength for the entire day. Doctors say you should not leave the house on an empty stomach. With respect to the soul, this is fulfilled by morning prayer and reading. The soul is fed by them, and sets out on the business of the day nourished.

To help this process he suggest to get a notebook and to write down the thoughts that you have as you read the Gospel and other spiritual books. This helps you keep focused on the reading material and to nurture the thoughts that are stimulated from it.


One of the challenges with such reading and with prayer is that often thoughts overtake our concentration. It is almost like an involuntary distraction. They seem to come from nowhere uninvited. The main problem comes when we do not take action to deal with them. St. Theophan tells us, “as soon as you notice your thought wandering off, immediately put it back in its place.”


Prayer and reading of spiritual books are an essential part of our spiritual development. The key is to make choices to provide time for this new activity.  You will need to get up at least 30 minutes earlier in the morning.  This means you will have to go to bed thirty minutes earlier in the evening and give up some activity. When your desire for grace is strong enough you will be able to act on it and make the necessary changes. Our laziness is our worst enemy.


 Reference: The Spiritual Life, pp  145–146

The Inner State According to Saint Marcarius the Great

If anyone in the world is wealthy, and he has a hidden treasure, then he will acquire all that he wants through this treasure and wealth. So it is with those who have found and who've already have the heavenly treasure (grace). For through this treasure they acquire every virtue, and accumulate even greater heavenly wealth for themselves. The Apostle says, we have this treasure in earthen vessels (2 Corinthians 4:7); that is, being still in the flesh, we were were they to find in ourselves the above mentioned treasure, the sanctifying power of the Spirit.

He who has found and who has within himself this heavenly treasure of the Spirit is irreproachable, and accomplishes in purity every truth in accordance with the commandments and every virtuous deed without being compelled to do so, and without any difficulties. If we were to begin to implore God, we would begin seeking and asking that we too be given the treasure of His Spirit, and thus we would become irreproachable and abide in purity in all His commandments, carrying out every truth thoroughly and perfectly.

It is necessary to force oneself to ask the Lord that He allow one to find and accept the treasures of the Spirit, to arrive at this condition without difficulty, and to carry out faultlessly and thoroughly all the commandments of the Lord with ease, which formerly could not be accomplished even with all one's strength. This treasure is acquired through diligent seeking, having faith and patience in one's labors throughout this seeking. It is necessary to ask God with sincere love and faith to allow us to find in our hearts His riches, in the power and efficacy of the Spirit.

....

When the soul aspires to the perfection of the Spirit, after it has been entirely cleansed of all the passions, and, after it has arrived at the unity and dissolution with the Comforting Spirit in ineffable communion and being co-mingled with the Spirit, then it will be considered worthy of becoming spirit itself. Then it will become completely light, all-seeing, completely joyful, completely calm, completely loving, completely merciful, completely filled with grace and goodness.

Saint Macarius the Great, Eighteenth Homily.


Reference: The Spiritual Life, pp 140 142

Desire and Action in Spiritual Life

What do we need to do to have divine grace permeate our being, enlightening us, and leading us to a life according to the virtues?  How do we nurture the zeal within us to become worthy of God's grace? We need both to desire it and resolve to set out to achieve it.
Saint Theophan says,

Everyone wants to go to Heaven, but not everyone has the desire to labor towards this end. I am saying this because it is not enough merely to desire. You need to resolve firmly to achieve without fail that which you desire. You also need to resolve firmly to begin the process itself of labor towards this.

So, how do we move from desire to action. Our desire must have some deep personal meaning for us. We must see it as something extremely important and essential to our life. We have in our lives many desires, most of which remain unfilled because we lack the strength to act on them.
St. Theophan says,

In order for desire to be fulfilled, it is necessary to elevated to the level of firm intention or decision, and it is necessary for the heart to say within itself, “No matter what happens, I will obtain such-and-such a thing, or I will accomplish such-and-such a deed.”

 Once our desire is clear and important we must act. We must look at making changes in our way of life. We must reevaluate our priorities and begin to make new choices. Simply put, we must begin. This first step is probably the most difficult of all.
St. Theophan  says,

So that your desire does not fail to bloom, it is necessary to carry it from the beginning to the point of decision. This should not be a hasty decision, but careful, deliberate, firm, rational, and most importantly, an irrevocable decision. Then get down to work itself. First, everything must be accomplished and inwardly through personal reflection, along with prayer to God to bring reason and enlightenment to the mind with respect to the  extremely crucial matter at hand.

Examine what is really important in your life and then, with love, make the necessary changes based on the Traditions, Scripture and practices of the Church, to do the things that will lead you to your desred goal. 


See Ten Points for an Orthodox Way of Life


Reference: The Spiritual Life, pp 137-140

Nurturing the Seed of Grace

Grace that we receive from God needs to be nurtured.  Then it will grow illuminating the body and soul.  We receive it as a seed and then create the conditions for it to grow within us.  To do this the Church has provided us with many tools and exercises.


"Fasting, labor, vigils, solitude, leaving the world, guarding the senses, reading Scriptures and Holy Fathers, going to church, frequent Confession and Communion, vows and other acts of piety and virtue––all of this together, or singly in predominant aspects, can be found in almost every life of the Holy Fathers."
St. Theophan


These are all free acts that come from our consciousness.  Such actions need to repeated so the benefits can become permanent, a way of life.


"Whoever lives in a worldly way is servile to the customs and spirit of the world.  But whoever goes into this world fresh inevitably absorbs its spirit and soon becomes like everyone else, for these customs are the elements that foster in us the spirit of sin, passions, and theism; for the customs themselves are nothing other than passionate issuances."
St. Theophan


For this reason we have exercises for the mind, the will and the heart.


"Holy asceticism together with it s great faith in a burst of love for God, brings man to true joy.  He is happy to live, for his heart flutters, glorifying his God of benefactions.  He is also happy to die, for he thus goes close to God again, ad will continue there his doxology."
Elder Paisios (Precious Vessels of the Holy Spirit, p135)


Ref:  Path to Salvation, pp 239-242

When Grace Awakens - Sweetness in Godly Life

When divine Grace awakens us, "the feeling of dependence on God returns.  We realize our subservience to God and our absolute responsibility to Him."
Saint Theophan the Recluse

Our blindness to our sinfulness disappears.  We now see and feel  all of the ugliness inside ourselves and the danger our soul faces.  We now have the zeal to be responsible before God and make changes in our life.

We feel a "certain Sweetness in godly life."  Saint Theophan says,
He also has a presentiment that joy and consolation are hidden in the realm of goodness, which is not being revealed to his spiritual eye.  It comes into view like the promised land."

We feel free from the control of sin.  There is a certain indifference towards good and evil.  We now have total freedom to choose that which is good.  Theophan says it "allows him to taste the sweetness of goodness, attracts him to itself consciously and perceptively. the scales are even.  Now complete freedom to act in in the person's hands.

Everything is illumined.
In this manner, as in a flash of lightning, everything within and around the person is illuminated by this grace-filled awakening.  For one instant it introduces the heart to that state from which sin has been cast out, and places man into that chain of creation from which he voluntarily exiled himself through sin.

This awakening does not complete our work.  It only initiates it.  There is first a movement towards oneself and one away from oneself to God. First we become aware of our sinful nature, then, having feeling of contrition and desiring to become like God, we draw near to Him.

"By the first movement the person regains the authority he had lost over himself, and the second brings him forth as a sacrifice to God––a whole-burnt offering of freedom.  In the first movement he comes to the decision to abandon sin, and in the second, drawing near to God, he gives a promise to belong to Him alone throughout the days of his life."


Reference: Path to Salvation, pp 147-149
Ten Point Program for Orthodox Life

To Awaken Grace Present the Word Simply Without Philosophizing

Overarching all methods to support an awakening from the "slumber of sin' and realizing grace is the Word of God.
"Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Rom 10:17)

It is essential to proclaim the story of the universal, divine way of salvation, to tell of well-known persons and places to which one who has been aroused should turn for interpretation, so he will not waste that arousal or stray off course from it, wasting time and energy fruitlessly. Catechistic teaching must be heard unceasingly...
Saint Theophan the Recluse


Saint Theophan also instructs how this is to be done using the example of the Apostles.
The preaching of the holy Apostles, those who followed them and all preachers of the Gospel in general has consisted of a simple presentation of the truth, without any philosophizing.

One should engage int he simple telling of the truth telling the story of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who was crucified on the Cross.  We should not clutter our presentation with intellectual concepts or any speculation about probabilities.

He says,
Truth is akin to spirit.  When it is uttered simply and sincerely, truth finds the spirit.  When it is surrounded by images and is figurative and embellished, it remains in the imagination.  When it is encumbered with concepts and arguments, it is detained in the intellect or soul, not reaching the spirit, which is left empty.  One could say that all unfruitful preaching is on account of the intellectualizing that fills it.  Just explain the truth in a simple way; say what it is, and the spirit will be overcome.


Ref: Path to Salvation pp 119-123

United with Grace

Often in our adult years we forget about the incredible gift we have received at our Baptism. I know in my own young adult years my thoughts and cares were all about my own ability to be successful in my career, to marry, and to have a family.  This was about all I thought about.  But as I got older, I wondered about the purpose of my life and began to think about things of a spiritual nature.  This is a natural course of life.

It is in Baptism that we are united with Divine grace. St.Theophan says, "During Holy Baptism, some new element, a supernatural one, is added to our composition, and it will remain inside us hidden and secretly acting."1 Once it has been implanted it's up to us to have it permeate all our actions so that it is no longer hidden but becomes outwardly visible. This requires our attention and effort. When we meet such a person who has undertaken this work, we feel a presence, an uplifting force, a warmth and some kind of moral energy that comes forth from them.  This is the nature of a holy person.  This is the potential we all have.

This grace we have received is like yeast in bread.  A little is added to the ingredients, but it needs to be worked though all the dough to have an good end product. This kneading process requires the most effort of the whole process.  Saint Theophan says,

"We receive the grace of God through Baptism in our childhood.  From that moment, it begins to act within us and carry out its action, in the hope that when we reach adulthood, we ourselves, through the decision of our own will, will undertake zealously to do everything for our salvation."2

It is important that we do take action, because, if we don't, this grace we have received will totally abandon us. We will then only have the power of our own self-will.  But if we make the choice to nurture it and work to have our life conform to it, then it will form a strong center within us.  This spiritual center is often referred to as the "heart" by our Church Fathers.  It is from this center that we can draw on for our spiritual rebirth and development.

Saint Theophan gives us some good guidance on how to rekindle this spiritual gift we have hidden away.  He give us several parables to examine.  The parable of the talent (Luke 19:11-27) and the one about the treasure hidden in the field and the merchant who is seeking goodly pearls (Matt 13:44-46).  From these he draws what is expected of us.

1. Acknowledge the presence of the gift of grace within us.

2. Comprehend that the value of the grace for us si so great, that it is more precious than life itself, so that without it life is not even life

3. Desire with all our strength to adapt this grace to ourselves, and adapt ourselves to is, or, to put it another way, desire to imbue our entire nature with it and to become enlightened and sanctified.

4. Resolve to achieve this through the matter itself

5. Carry this decision into reality, putting everything else aside, or, having removed one's heart form everything, give it over to the full action of Divine grace.

When these five acts have taken place within us, then comes the beginning our our internal rebirth, after which, if we continue to act in the same spirit unflaggingly, inner rebirth and illumination will grow quickly or slowly depending on our labor, but most importantly, depending on our forgetfulness of self. 3

Quotes from The Spiritual Life and How to Be Attuned to It, by Saint Theophan the Recluse

1 The Spiritual life, p 122
2 ibid, p 126
3 ibid p 135