I once asked someone: “What type of warrior do you consider
yourself to be? Christ’s warrior or temptation’s warrior? Are you aware
that the evil of temptation also has its own warriors?”
A Christian must not be fanatic; he must have love for and be sensitive
towards all people. Those who inconsiderately toss out comments, even if
they are true, can cause harm.
I once met a theologian who was extremely pious, but who had the
habit of speaking to the (secular) people around him in a very blunt
manner; his method penetrated so deeply that it shook them very
severely. He told me once: “During a gathering, I said such and such a
thing to a lady.” But the way that he said it, crushed her. “Look”, I
said to him, “you may be tossing golden crowns studded with diamonds to
other people, but the way that you throw them can smash heads, not only
the sensitive ones, but the sound ones also.”
Let’s not stone our fellow-man in a so-called “Christian manner.” The
person who – in the presence of others – checks someone for having
sinned (or speaks in an impassioned manner about a certain person), is
not moved by the Spirit of God; he is moved by another spirit.
The way of the Church is LOVE; it differs from the way of the
legalists. The Church sees everything with tolerance and seeks to help
each person, whatever he may have done, however sinful he may be.
I have observed a peculiar kind of logic in certain pious people. Their
piety is a good thing, and their predisposition for good is also a good
thing; however, a certain spiritual discernment and amplitude is
required so that their piety is not accompanied by narrow-mindedness or
strong-headedness. Someone who is truly in a spiritual state must
possess and exemplify spiritual discernment; otherwise he will forever
remain attached to the “letter of the Law”, and the letter of the Law
can be quite deadly.
A truly humble person never behaves like a teacher; he will listen,
and, whenever his opinion is requested, he responds humbly. In other
words, he replies like a student. He who believes that he is capable of
correcting others is filled with egotism.
A person that begins to do something with a good intention and
eventually reaches an extreme point, lacks true discernment. His actions
exemplify a latent type of egotism that is hidden beneath this
behavior; he is unaware of it, because he does not know himself that
well, which is why he goes to extremes.
Quite often, people begin with good intentions, but look
where they may find themselves! This was the case with the
“icon-worshippers” and the “iconoclasts” of the past: both cases were
extremes! The former had reached the point of scraping off icons of
Christ and placing the scrapings into the Holy Chalice in order to
“improve” Holy Communion; the latter, on the other hand, burnt and
totally discarded all icons. That is why the Church was obliged to place
the icons in higher places, out of reach, and, when the dispute was
over, lowered them so that we can venerate them and thus confer the
appropriate honor to the persons portrayed therein….
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