Spiritual Paralysis
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
“Ask anyone who has spent years struggling with anger, envy, or destructive addictions. He will tell you: “I did not want to do it, yet I did.” Sin never asks permission. It enters the house of the soul silently, through small compromises, and then bolts the door from the inside. A man imagines that he is merely flirting with the world, while in reality he is constructing an invisible prison around himself. The ancient teachers of the Church rightly compared this condition to a grave illness. Just as a person enslaved by addiction loses mastery over his own body, so the sinner surrenders his mind and will to a destructive power. It is a spiritual paralysis.” (Metropolitan Luke Kovalenko)
“There is a lot of fear today in the modern world as we are exposed to global woes daily through all manner of media. Fear often causes us paralysis – not physical – but mental and spiritual that can make us stagnant and afraid to do what we know we should do. We can feel stuck and listless and bit hopeless….When man adopts the spirit of the modern age and allows it to dominate his thought, his will is shattered and his mind paralyzed: He ceases to be mindful of the Truth and is unable to acquire the spirit of repentance…Placing our trust in Christ, and committing to deepening our relationship with Him over time, melts away this fear and replaces it with a renewed sense of both life and joy..” (Sacramental Living Ministries, Archimandrite Gregorios Estephan)
“He [Christ] taught that Old Testament laws on murder, adultery, and vengeance go to the heart in ways that call us to become holy as God is holy. We will make progress toward that infinite goal not by viewing the Christian life as an exercise in justifying ourselves in our own minds by our good behavior, but instead by using whatever gains we receive in spiritual clarity to become more aware of our sins, of our ongoing paralysis before our passions, and of our constant need for the healing mercy of the Lord.” (Fr. Philip LeMasters)
“Because most of us are not sufficiently aware of the actual conditions prevailing in the spiritual dimension of this life, we behave like inexperienced children – we are liable to paralysis by fear, over-dependence on familiar resources, and an inattentiveness to heart matters. For this reason, Christ our Lord provides instruction and encouragement to awaken us and bring us to a higher state of alert….What was our Lord’s purpose when He chose crucifixion, offering Himself to cleanse our “conscience from dead works to serve the living God”? Clearly, the Lord created an opportunity never available to the human race before: to cleanse, purify, and restore the conscience to a right relationship with God. The Lord says, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me” (Mt 11:29). United to Him in His Passion, we may now offer ourselves “through the eternal Spirit” (Heb 9:14) to be restored as whole persons. We are freed from spiritual paralysis in this life and the life to come.” (Dynamis 1/4/2020, 4/18/2021)
“The Christian life is not easy, but it actually is simple. When we clearly understand what sin and holiness are, then our choice to turn away from sin and be holy becomes clear, too. As we are tempted to sin, we should remember the words of Jesus, that our sin will bring us into paralysis and worse, because sin is participation with the alien demonic power that destroys human nature. And as we see opportunities to be faithful to the holiness of God, then we see that this faithfulness becomes for us the conduit of the healing grace of God. Through faithfulness, we participate in the energies of God, and the human person is restored and elevated.” (Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick)
Comments