Comments on: A sword shall pierce through thy own soul

By: ?ivljenjsko Zavarovanje

?ivljenjsko Zavarovanje — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 04:07:02 +0000

I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the great work Look forward to reading more from you in the future.

By: John Lee

John Lee — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:31:49 +0000

As I contemplate the pain and suffering that goes with this life; I am aware that without the Cross there can be no true miracles. The sword that pierces my side is what precedes the great miracle of life. I am reminded that the lives of the Saints were not spent in Joy but were also spent in pain.
I am also reminded that Jesus said "Can You Indeed be Baptized with the Baptism I am Baptized with. I can never forget that as a Christian I am called to martyrdom. I am also reminded that we should persecute ourselves, always remembering that Jesus' call is "To be perfect as your Father in Heaven is Perfect.

By: Deborah

Deborah — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:24:28 +0000

Not meaning this as an excuse, by any means, but just as an examination and confession of my own problem with stony insensibility: Unless and until I become holy I cannot bear to look at the suffering Lord, or the suffering of others, full in the face. Because of the burden of my many sins and a heart that has been hardened through years of attempting to protect itself from pain, I continue to turn away, to hide my face from the suffering of my loved ones and to attempt to run from my own suffering.

Fortunately, the Lord, in His mercy, pursues me–and He runs faster than I can. Gently, but firmly, He continually brings me back to my cross so that, through the process of crucifixion, my heart of stone can be transformed into one that can truly feel and bear the burden of suffering for others and can truly appreciate His sacrifice for me. Without a pure heart, who can look upon such suffering and bear it? Without a pure heart, who can look upon His face and live?

By: Natalia Arzhantseva

Natalia Arzhantseva — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:50:13 +0000

In an inexplicable way the thinking of the Cross, and praying to the Cross, enhance my zest, and revives me…The more I evoke the thought of the Holy Cross, the more I become alive. I noticed it quite long ago, when started to pray to the Cross once during Great Lent. I intender to increase my understanding of the Cross, God's sufferings, – as I felt I could not comprehend it even in the little extent enough. At that time I thought it was possible for me. I bought a book of Canons to the Cross, with the Akathist to it, and read them regularly, especially during the Cross Veneration Week. So I, as a good school disciple, paid more attention to the Cross & everything connected with it. As I can judge, it did not increase my awareness & comprehension, but it produced an effect! – I noticed I could pray diligently & quite attentively to the Cross, – with more attention & self-concentration than I usually prayed to any saint….and I also discovered that it gave me…joy. and the feeling of protection, of being sure of my way & what I do, of being A PART OF. And my regular reading of those several Canons to the Cross made me stronger & delighted.
And how they helped me when my grandfather died! The Canons helped me to unite my life, his life, God, the future…altogether. To feel the unity & eternity…the thread that cannot be cut. and that this feeling can be even much tighter, if I do not weaken or cut this invisible thread by my sins & evil.
Now what warns me is my impossibility, unwillingness to treat sufferings of my relatives & beloved ones as a true Christian should bear it – fully trusting God's Sacrifice & His Cross, calmly & courageously, with humility & trust in the Lord. I always try to grumble, tend to hide, to avoid the reality…and I just pray with all the fibres of my soul so that I am able to carry my cross, and my relatives crosses as I should. If a person manages to learn it, fully relying on God, he will feel real happiness – in God – in spite of all the circumstances.

Bless.

By: seraphimholland

seraphimholland — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:54:37 +0000

I very much agree – unless the Holy Spirit comforts us, we could not endure the suffering.

I also was trying to get out of my head and onto the page my inner conviction that we do not suffer enough, because we are not holy. We cannot comprehend the sacrifice of our Lord because we are not holy. The holy have finely attuned senses – ours are coarse and we suffer from "stony insensibility" because of our sins. The "dialogues" of the Theotokos in the Stavrotheotokia, are I think, and example, of, to make up a word: "anti-insensibility".

By: Deborah

Deborah — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:48:46 +0000

Father, Bless,

Not only must we take up our cross in order to follow Him, but like the Theotokos, we must also watch and pray as our dear loved suffer upon their crosses. Of course, this is part of our own crucifixion–to share in their sufferings–to suffer with them and for them.

Such suffering would be unbearable were it not for the comfort of the Holy Spirit and the knowledge of the rest of the story….