Stability
- Michael Haldas
- May 9
- 3 min read
“Let us not be troubled when it befalls us to be plunged into darkness, especially if we are not responsible for it…this darkness enshrouding you has been given you by God’s Providence for reasons known to Him alone. Sometimes indeed our soul is engulfed by the waves and drowned. Whether we give ourselves to the reading of scripture or to prayer, whatever we do we are increasingly imprisoned in darkness…it is an hour filled with despair and fear. The soul is utterly deprived of hope in God and the consolation of faith…those who have been tested by the distress of such an hour know that in the end it is followed by a change. God never leaves the soul for a whole day in such a state, for then hope would be destroyed…rather He allows it to emerge very soon from the darkness. Blessed is he who endures such temptations…as the Fathers say, great will be the stability and the strength to which he will come after that. However, it is not in one hour or at one stroke that such a combat is concluded. Nor is it at one moment, but gradually, that grace comes to take up its dwelling completely in the soul. After grace, the trial returns. There is a time for trial. And there is a time for consolation.” (St. Isaac of Nineveh)
“…what is more important to us, our own salvation or our Lord and God and our neighbor? If we have genuine faith, then we shall choose God and neighbor and launch out on an adventure of wild spiritual life and joy. If we choose to remain focused on ourselves, then we shall find ourselves on unstable ground, wanting to be certain about our eternal fate, but still feeling doubt. Then, in the face of this doubt, we can either retreat more deeply into the self and choose the way of self-help, worldly success, or even the post-Christian cults; or, we can look for some proof of our salvation in the next world, yet still on the basis of the self, and remain ever hungry for new or strange “spiritual” experiences.” (Timothy G. Patitsas)
“Stability is not just about knowing yourself. After discovering yourself, it is about ignoring yourself, and jumping into God’s arms to lose yourself in His Love, in His Joy, in His Mercy, in His Peace. Stability is not about me. It is about the people I love. It is about everyone else but me. This is why I do what I do. This is why I have everything I have. This is why I couldn’t care less about myself, and why I cannot be shaken. Stability is not about achieving impressive things. It is about knowing my limits. Knowing my physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual limits, and consciously pushing myself to stop just before meeting these limits….Stability is not about being sure of the future. It is about mastering the ability to walk on the waves by knowing our destination: God! Stability is not about having the fullness of wisdom. It is about having a relationship, a connection with the Holy Spirit. Our knowledge matures in time, according to the needs of our times. Stability is not about impressive solutions. It is about simplicity. It is about uncomplicating situations by looking at their elements individually and reconnecting them in a harmonious way.” (Bishop Emilianos)
“The fullness of existence is only found in communion, a mutual indwelling in which our lives are known and experienced not just in their self-contained form, but in their interrelation to others and everything around us. True existence is a connected-ness. It is also the very place where the instability and fragility of our lives is most revealed. If we can withdraw into ourselves, it is possible to imagine that we are fine, and that the things and people around us are just noise, sometimes enjoyable and other times annoying. But we do not think of the things and people around us as if our lives depended on them.” (Father Stephen Freeman)
“While the light of God does not change, His grace and energies change us, moving us toward illumination and stability in Him by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Dynamis 1/9/2019)
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