Unexpected Blessing

I just finished Volume 4 ("Family Life") in the Elder Paisios of Mount Athos' "Spiritual Counsels" series, and am almost finished with "The Church At Prayer", which is a series of homilies by Elder Aimilianos of Simonpetra; add to these two Athonite fathers Elder Porphyrios the Kapsokalyvite as well, and the book "Wounded By Love", which contains sweet counsel as well.  What can I say about the words these men spoke?  They are filled with such love, patience, hope, and kindness, and of course, faith.

I was thinking last night about all the things I had to be grateful for with regards to my faith.  My faith has given me a relationship with God, His Son, Jesus' Most Pure Mother, the Saints, the angels...prior to my faith, I never would've known it was even possible to have a relationship with the heavenly realm, let alone, a way to contact them.  My faith has given me strength and hope when I felt weak and despondent; when it seemed impossible to hope.  There have been times when my faith has been the only constant in my life amongst ever-changing circumstances, and so, my faith has been a source of constancy.  My faith has been the standard of which to look at the more grey areas of life to determine the ways that truly glorify God.  One thing I didn't expect--but has been a pleasant, welcome addition to the many blessings I've been given through faith--is instruction on how to be more of a Christian in dealings with those around us.

When I first started reading spiritual books, the subject matter focused on personal asceticism, how to behave in church, things like that.  And they are important things, because we need to know how to conduct our physical bodies.  But I would come across commands to "love each other" (behavior of the heart), and I would think to myself, "Have the people that are exhorting us to love each other ever dealt with somebody really difficult or unpleasant?", because it seemed to me that there was no acknowledgement of doing these behaviors of the heart with people that were cruel to us, and they made it sound like it was so easy.

Elder Aimilianos addresses this in the book I'm reading.  He talks about how to gently handle a person that you have difficulty with, and what I liked about his advice was, he acknowledges that we have difficulties with those around us sometimes!  Ideally, I'd like to get to a place where I can be passionless/nonreactionary with those around me, but for now, I am not, and it makes me feel badly that I don't always realize how to deal with the difficult people in my life in a more prayerful, peaceful, Christian way.  And sometimes, it's not that I don't want to or refuse to deal with them as a Christian should--sometimes, it's just that I truly do not know the right way to respond to something...I lack the skills somehow.  It's not that I'm not willing, I am ignorant as to how.  I knew this about myself before I came to any faith, and it bothered me that I was unable to deal with difficult people in my life more peacefully...that I was so reactionary, and I can now begin to take steps to correct this shortcoming of mine.

Elder Paisios reminded me of the need to be a gentle mother.  I can get crabby sometimes during the challenging times of childrearing, and it was what I needed to hear.  He verbalized how special mother's love is, and I know my children deserve more of that.  Elder Porphyrios has an EXCELLENT section on parenting in his book, and I refer to it quite often.  I find it very helpful and sometimes, the only calm in the storm.

There is more that I can go on to say about Elders Paisios (+1994), Aimilanos, and Porphyrios (+1991), but I'm a little short on time.  Suffice to say that I owe these present-day Athonite Fathers A LOT, because they understand the challenges of modern day life, and because they give good counsel on how to handle difficult situations, and because their counsel is compassionate and kind.  They even acknowledge that these difficult situations exist, which for me is really helpful.  The fact that their words have been translated into so many languages astounds me while simultaneously giving me joy, as I imagine others around the world reading their words, gaining comfort and strength through them as I do.

What a wonderful time we live in to be able to have access to such wonderful information that helps us along our spiritual path, and by helping ourselves, brings our neighbors consolation as well.