The instrument of Christ… (Elder Ephraim of Arizona)
2 Νοεμβρίου 2014
An excerpt from”The Art Of Salvation(homily4)We should pray for our enemies,for all the people who slander us,criticize us,persecute us,and make things difficult for us.This is the next thing we must do,because if we do not forgive them,God will not forgive us.
The most vibrant form of love for our fellow man is expressed and revealed when we pray wholeheartedly for our enemies,when we forgive with all our heart(not merely as a formality because God says so),and when we love our enemies,who in actuality are our benefactors.
The most vibrant form of love for our fellow man is expressed and revealed when we pray wholeheartedly for our enemies,when we forgive with all our heart(not merely as a formality because God says so),and when we love our enemies,who in actuality are our benefactors.
The person who bothers us,who criticizes us,who creates temptations and hardships for us,on the one hand becomes an instrument of Christ.
The Fathers teach that such a person is Jesus’s instrument that cauterizes our egotism and our pride,and through him we receive therapy.
The Fathers teach that such a person is Jesus’s instrument that cauterizes our egotism and our pride,and through him we receive therapy.
Such a person,of course,acts with hostility;we,however.can graft the wild olive branch into a cultivated olive tree(cf.Rom.11:17)and produce a crop useful to our lives.
Thus,we benefit tremendously when we embrace people who act with hostility towards us.
Thus,we benefit tremendously when we embrace people who act with hostility towards us.
Source-From the book, Elder Ephraim of Arizona”The Art Of Salvation”published by Saint Nektarios Monastery Roscoe,New York.- orthognosia.blogspot.gr
