My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

"LOVE YOUR ENEMIES..." (Saint Matthew 5:44)

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." (St. Matthew 5:43-48).

Our Lord Jesus Christ commands to "love" our "enemies" as a genuine expression of the life of the Kingdom. Having freed us from hate, sadness, and anger, He offers the greatest possession of all--perfect agape. That is a gift which can only be possessed by the one who, by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, manifests God's agape for all. Such agape call us to bless, do good and pray--even for enemies. Love of neighbor is the sign of having become a true child of God. Love is not merely an emotion. it is Divine Grace--an uncreated Divine Energy--which inflames the soul and unites it to God and to other people (See 1 John 4:7-21).

RESENTMENT AND FORGIVENESS
By Hieromonk Damascene

Anger, judgment, remembrance of wrongs, grudges, resentment: these are passions with which all of us struggle in one way or another. Why are we prone to them? According to the Holy Fathers of the Church, the power that causes anger was part of man's original nature, which was created "good" by God (cf. Genesis 1:31). The Holy Fathers say that man's soul was originally created with three powers: the intellective or "knowing" power, the appetitive or "desiring" power, and the incensive or "fervent" power. Man was supposed to use his intellective power to know God, his appetitive power to yearn for God, and his incensive power to courageously repel temptation--beginning with the temptation of the serpent in the Garden.

Instead of using their incensive power to repel temptation, however, Adam and Eve succumbed to their first temptation: they ate of the forbidden fruit. According to the Holy Fathers, the essence of the serpent's temptation lies in these words: "Eat of this fruit and you shall be as gods" (cf. Genesis 3:5). Saint John Chrysostom says that "expected to become himself a god, and conceived thoughts above his proper dignity." This is a key point which we'll keep coming back to.

When the primordial Fall occurred, man's original nature, created in the image of God, became corrupted. He acquired what the Holy Fathers call a fallen nature. He still had the image of God in him, but the image was tarnished: "buried," as it were, under the corruption of his nature. Now he had an inclination toward sin, born of his desire to be God without God's blessing. All of us share that fallen nature; there is a part of each one of us that wants to be God. In popular modern terms, that part of us is called "ego."

When man fell, the three powers of his soul became subject to corruption, along with his body, which became subject to death and decay. Now man used his intellective power to puff up with knowledge and be superior to others; now he used his appetitive power to lust after other people, after the things of this world, after sinful pleasures, wealth, and power; and he used his incensive power, not against temptation, but against other people, against things, and sometimes against life and God Himself. The incensive power expressed itself as sinful anger and wrath. The first man born of woman, Cain, got so angry and jealous that he murdered his own brother, Abel.

So, here we are, all members of the family of Adam and Eve, possessing a fallen nature that wants to be God, and a corrupt incensive power that gets angry at the wrong things.

Very clear teachings on anger and the incensive power can be found in the first volume of The Philokalia, in the teachings of Saint John Cassian, a Holy Father of the 5th century. According to Saint John Cassian, all anger directed at other people--all such wrong use of our incensive power--blinds the soul. He writes: We must, with God's help, eradicate the deadly poison of anger from the depths of our souls. So long as the demon of anger dwells in our hearts--we can neither discriminate what is good, nor achieve spiritual knowledge, nor fulfill our good intentions, nor participate in true life...Nor will we share in divine wisdom even though we are deemed wise by all men, for it is written: anger lodges in the bosom of fools (Ecclesiastes 7:9). Nor can we discriminate in decisions affecting our salvation even though we are thought by our fellow man to have good sense, for it is written: 'anger destroys even men of good sense' (Proverbs 15:1). Nor will we be able to keep our lives in righteousness with a watchful heart, for it is written: "Man's anger does not bring about the righteousness of God" (St. James 1:20). (Source: Orthodox Christian Information Center)

(To be continued)

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" -- Saint John Chrysostom

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George