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Practical Holiness Jesus has shown us what we must do to grow in holiness within the life of the Church :- "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (Matthew 5:8) So, our hearts must be purified if we are to see God. Purifying the heart is a battlefield: the prize, our salvation; the Captain of our faith, Jesus Christ; our Adversary, the devil and his minions; God’s army, the angels and holy ones; the combatants, you and me; the field of engagement, the heart. This interior battle, always being waged in our hearts, is for the restoration of our likeness unto God once sullied by the disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve. This restoration, this purity of heart, is not achieved without struggle. It involves a voluntary submission to the suffering that arises both from the heat of the battle and the intransigence of our old nature. It requires a profound humility in the context of the utter futility of attempting to fight in our own strength and an obedient disposition towards God who knows full well what we need to make progress. As St. Paul teaches in his Epistle to the Ephesians: - 10 Brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. The devil is only permitted to use the raw material of our ungodly desires reinforced by our passions and since he is an immaterial entity, he can only work through our thoughts. None of us can stop evil thoughts battering on the walls of our hearts. This is the legacy of the Fall. The great St. Antony of the Desert taught that we must expect temptations until our last breath! Our intellect, though, is like the guardian, the doorkeeper to the heart. If it is alert and functioning normally within the graceful and tranquil union of the soul and God, it will be able to sense the approach of evil and defend the heart from demonic assault. This defence is effected through the invocation of God’s help in prayer and the courageous and energetic renunciation of the evil. If it is sleepy, self indulgent or compromised by self-reliance and unbelief, the heart will barely be able to resist the swarm of evil thoughts and indeed may be overcome if the mind entertains them and consents through the will to their enactment. Only when the intellect has been strengthened through a humble disposition toward God can it readily descend into the heart and fortify the soul against the fiery darts of the evil one. This is the active character of our faith; not a dry and dusty theoretical abstraction but a fight to the death with all that opposes God, consciously and unconsciously within each one of us. In this combat we may only safely uses God’s resources or else we shall fail, disastrously. Again we hear from St. Paul: - 13 Therefore, take the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace; 16 besides all these, taking the shield of faith. with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, … This counsel speaks for itself. The Christian soul cannot be indifferent to the Scriptures, faith, godliness, asceticism and prayer if it is to prevail and be accounted worthy of a heavenly crown. Much will be made of these resources in forthcoming talks. For now, let us consider one aspect of prayer that is particularly necessary in the attentive guarding of the heart from evil and the cultivation in obedience and humility of the virtues. St. Paul says: "Pray at all times …" (v18). He means of course, the Prayer of the Heart, the Jesus Prayer or some similar gospel prayer which can embed itself in the heart and by the grace and operation of the Holy Spirit say itself when needed. Of course, it takes much love and hard work to get this prayer established in our heart, but when it has taken root it can be a marvellous way for the Lord to protect us from all evil and sow in us the seeds of the mustard tree, the branches of which stretch to heaven itself. So let us take every opportunity to plant this prayer in our hearts with due consideration to each word and its promise for our lives. If, as a faithful soldier and servant of the Lord we fight this good fight using his armoury, then we shall find, progressively, maybe over a long time, that our heart has been purified. With that purity comes clear sight, the divine vision, bliss as our humanity is taken up into God and made radiant in His Love. Then we shall shine like the stars, not with our own intrinsic light but with the transfiguring light of God Himself. Truly the saints lighten us on our way. Cannot we in some measure be an unclouded lamp for others? Of course we can but only insofar as we are ready in the Spirit to die daily to self and live only for Christ. Let us never fail then in taking up this blessed cross, Amen. Fr Gregory |
