In EnglishThe Ascetic ExperienceΞένες γλώσσες

An Icon of Human Freedom

12 Οκτωβρίου 2015

An Icon of Human Freedom

12 Οκτωβρίου 2015

How to avoid the wandering of the mind First of all you cannot stop the wandering of the mind. But you can fight to control it and then the God’s grace will win the battle for us. First, you must place at the gate of your heart strict and unsleeping guards. In fact you don’t need anything in this life except an awaken heart. For this, you need prayer and obedience. Constantly wrestle with your thought, and whenever it wanders call it back to you. God does not require from those still under obedience prayer completely free of distractions. Do not despond when your thoughts are filched, but remain calm, and unceasingly recall your mind. Unbroken recollection is proper only to an angel. Based on St. John of the Ladder In this photo is depicted a monk praying in front of the icon of the Mother of God at a vigil in the Vatopaidi’s Katholikon.

Freedom involves sharing. Mary’s first action after the Annunciation is to share the good news with someone else: she goes with haste to the hill country, to the house of Zechariah, and greets her cousin Elizabeth.8 Here is an essential element in freedom: you cannot be free alone. Freedom is not solitary but social.

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