In great battles, generals are dressed and fed as ordinary
soldiers and they do not seek contentment in food nor in clothes but in
victory. Victory is the primary principle of contentment of those who battle.
Brethren, Christians are constantly in battle, in battle for the victory of the
spirit over the material, in battle for conquest of the higher over the lower,
man over beast. Is it not, therefore, absurd to engage in battle and not to
worry about victory but to concern oneself with external decorations and
ornaments? Is it not foolish to give to one's enemies the marks of
identification? Our invisible enemy [Satan] rejoices at our vanity and supports
us in every vain thought. The invisible enemy occupies us with every possible
unreasonable pettiness and idleness only to impose upon our minds the heavy
forgetfulness relative to that for which we are here on earth. The invisible
enemy [Satan] presents to us the worthless as important, the irrelevant as essential
and that which is detrimental as beneficial only in order to achieve victory
and to destroy us forever.
O Lord, Holy, Mighty and Immortal, Who created us from the
mud and breathed a living soul into mud, do not allow, O Lord, that the mud
overwhelms! Help our spirit that it always be stronger than the earth.
By St. Nikolai Velimirovich
No comments:
Post a Comment