January 19, 2020 - Seeking the Lord

January 19, 2020

Seeking the Lord

He who believes must beseech God to change his will so that his bitter heart will change and become sweet; so that he will remember how the blind man was healed, how the hemorrhaging lady touched the end of Christ’s garment and was healed, the way the lions’ wild nature was tamed¹, how the fire was deadened², how the bitter wound became sweet³. God is absolute love. For this reason, you should have your mind and your thoughts focused on Him and not think of anything else… In forcefully directing our thoughts towards the Lord, the Lord will come to us by His own will and gather us near Him…

Therefore, endeavor to please the Lord, always looking for Him within, seeking Him in your thoughts, forcing and constraining your own will and purpose to continually reach upwards towards Him. Be attentive of how He comes unto you and makes His abode in you.  For, depending on how much you collect your mind to seek Him, He will be compelled by his compassion and His goodness to come to you and give you rest. He stands observing your mind, your thoughts, your intentions, examining how you seek Him; if you are seeking Him with all your soul or if you are seeking Him indolently or carelessly.

And when He sees that you are seeking Him diligently, then He manifests Himself and appears to you and He offers to you of His own protection and makes the victory yours, delivering you from your enemies. When He has first examined the way you seek Him and verifies that all of your  expectations are constantly fixed on Him, He will then teach you and give you true prayer, true love, which is Himself who becomes everything for you in you:  paradise, tree of life, pearl, crown, builder, husbandman, passionate sufferer, incapable of suffering and passion, man, God, wine and living water, lamb, bridegroom, warrior, armor, all and in all Christ.

St. Makarios the Egyptian
Spiritual Homilies
Homily 31

¹ Daniel 6:22
² Daniel 3:24
³ Exodus 5:25

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