Remedy to Routine

“ I advise you this: let the scale of mercy always be prevalent within you, until you perceive in yourself that mercy which God has for the world. Let this our state become a mirror where we may see in ourselves that likeness and true image which naturally belong to the Divine Essence. By these things and their like we are enlightened so as to be moved toward God with a transparent understanding. A harsh and merciless heart will never be purified. A merciful man is the physician of his own soul, for as with a violent wind he drives the darkness of the passions out of his inner self. This is a good investment to make with God, according to the Gospel's Matt. 5:7 word of life, 'Blessed is the merciful man, for he shall obtain mercy,' not only beyond, but here also in a mystical way. Indeed, what mercy is greater than this? - even that when a man is moved with compassion for a fellow man and becomes a partaker in his suffering, our Lord delivers his soul from the gloom of darkness - which is the noetic hell- and brings her into the light of life, thus filling her with delight. Well has Evagrius said, 'A clear pathway comes from showing mercy.' Therefore, as I said, let a merciful heart preside over your entire discipline, and you will be at peace with God.” - Mar Isaac the Syrian

The eucharist

  1. - Just as the root of the vine ministers and distributes to the branches the enjoyment of its own natural and inherent qualities, so the Only-begotten Word of God imparts to the Saints, as it were, an affinity to His own nature which is that of God the Father, by giving them the Spirit...

    And the Saviour Himself says: He that eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood, abides in Me, and I in him. For here it is especially to be observed that Christ says that He shall be in us, not by a certain relation only, as entertained through the affections, but also by a natural participation. For as, if one entwines wax with other wax and melts them by fire there results of both one, so through the participation of the Body of Christ and of His precious Blood, He in us, and we again in Him, are co-united. -St Cyril of Alexandria

  2. When we make contact with God, the broken pieces of our former life are restored. Our heart is freed from the burden of the past and dares to love God and our fellow once again.- Elder Zacharias

  3. When the Christian begins to perceive the true dimensions of the Sacrament, he is filled with the desire to approach it more and more closely. Thus, the life of the faithful Christian goes from Liturgy to Liturgy. His chief concern is how to offer a more acceptable presentation before God every time; how to conform his own presentation to that of Christ before the Heavenly Father; how to attain to a greater fulness of divine love, how to become a worthy disciple of the Lord.- Elder Zacharias

Leading to the liturgy

  1. We must not forget that our participation in the abundance of life which the Lord offers us in the Liturgy, depends not only upon how much we have prepared in our ‘closet’ the day before, but every day as well. Our whole life ought to be a single preparation to present ourselves worthily before God in His house, and to thank Him for what we owe Him with all our heart, and in a manner befitting Him.- Elder Zacharias

  2. The warmth and peace that we have accumulated in the secret ‘closet’ of our heart will accompany us when we assemble for the Divine Liturgy, forming a holy and mystical space within us wherein our spirit can move freely and creatively.- Elder Zacharias

  3. One way of preparing is by praying on our own for a period of time before the Liturgy, and then going to Church with our heart full of warmth, faith, love, hope, in expectation of the Lord’s mercy, and full of spiritual dispositions. That is an offering we bring to God and the Church, a gift to the assembly of the brethren who have gathered together in the temple. The gift that we cultivate when we are alone unites us with the Body of Christ. It leads us into the communion of all the other gifts of the members of Christ’s Body, the Saints in heaven, and also of His elect upon earth so that in truth we become rich.- Elder Zacharias

at and from the liturgy

  1. “If you want to experience the Kingdom of Heaven in the Liturgy, preserve the sanctity and respect of the place”- Bishop Epiphanius, Bishop of the Monastery of St Macarius the Great

  2. The difference that the Christian feels between Holy Communion and Paradise is due rather to his own shortcomings, to his insufficient preparation, to the incompatibility of his nature with the grandeur of the Sacrament and to the corruption of his body.- Elder Zacharias

  3. If we have truly received Christ in us, we can have no other desire except that the world should be saved. We can have no other prayer apart from the prayer for the whole world. This is the way in which the Liturgy teaches us universality.- Elder Zacharias

Michael Salib