Author: Mother Erene
True love involves being merciful and supporting people in their troubles
Performing mercy means love. It means standing by any person in trouble. Whoever has mercy on others, God will have mercy on him. In the Agpeya, in the Midnight hour we read, ‘There will be no mercy on those who were not merciful’… A merciful person supports those who are in trouble; this shows that he has true love. It is possible that someone will say ‘I love this person.’ But when the latter goes through a certain tribulation and the former does not stand beside him, then this is not love.
Praying 30 mins a day yields many benefits
Try to sit with God in a close and deep communion. Try to love all the people and to put up with them for the sake of the love of God. Let us obey for His sake. Believe me, if you do so, you will find that all these virtues are easily and naturally obtained without much struggle or toil. Always have the feeling that you are with God. Sit with Him for just half an hour, but deeply; doing so will put an end to a sin and help you acquire a virtue. Believe me this is the easiest way to overcome many weaknesses without working hard, and we will live in joy regardless of our troubles, weaknesses or tribulations.
There is nothing sweeter than fellowship with God
Believe me there is nothing sweeter than loving God and having fellowship with Him. If one loves Him from one’s heart and prays deeply once a day for an hour or half an hour, one will feel that the whole world is worth nothing; and so is one’s ego. As well, one will accept any offence with simplicity. For the thing that mostly subdues our ego and pride is our love for God. The moment He feels our longing for Him, and our attempt to do even a little thing for Him according to our power and struggle, He will complete our work, guide us and help us get to heaven.
Clever people fulfil Christ’s commandments i.e. they love God and others
The clever people are those who follow the commandments, love God and their brothers, and acquire virtue. Believe me, at the beginning it will be difficult, but once we enter in the world of virtues, we will find them beautiful and enjoyable…. Whoever denies himself, cares for others and makes sacrifices for them is a winner. Whoever thinks about himself and defends himself will lose, because a worldly gain is a loss, and we should be awaiting the eternal reward.
What hinders our love for God
The things that hinder our love for God are: judgement, dissatisfaction, grumbling, being unthankful, and disobeying His commandments. When we are happy in every condition, when we thank God and rejoice for everything He gives us, we please Him. Even if there are things that upset us – problems, or troubles happening to us – let us resort to Him and thank Him while telling Him, “God, if You want, You can take these problems away and solve them.” Thus we discover that we can get rid of all our weaknesses easily.
How the saints struggled
Let us see how the saints reached heaven. They did not have an easy life, but had to struggle in patience and great longsuffering. The scriptures gave us the commandments, and the saints left us their experience regarding the path leading to the Kingdom. Let us see how much they loved God. Let us contemplate their lives. We will realize that they lived in humility and meekness, in hard work, in struggle, in love for God and others, in vigilance and prayer in addition to their manual work.
If you love Me, keep My commandments (John 14:15)
To know if we truly love God or not, we have to obey Him, following His teachings and fulfil all His commandments. He has to be the One who fills my life, the One who guides me and the reason of my joy and consolation. In all my troubles I turn to Him. In my joy I resort to Him, thank Him, praise Him and love all my sisters and all the people.
The life of thankfulness
The life of thankfulness is sweet and pleasant. Those who are always thankful are rewarded with blessings and consolations by God. There are so many poor people with affliction and yet they are thankful, hence they are in joy, why? Because the peace of God fills their hearts. We should not grumble, but rather be thankful. If each one of us trains himself to thankful words (even if they are at the beginning from the lips only), by time they will become a habit and we will say them from the heart. Still one has to ask God, “Give me the ability to thank You from my heart.” God will give him/her abundantly as He is rich.
Happy is he who follows His law
May God help us to do acts of mercy and love with each other, to live according to His commandments and fulfil them. Believe me the one who lives according to God’s commandments will be happy even when he is in trouble or pain. He always feels that God is supporting him and will never abandon him. The joy that comes from God brings with it peace, security and spiritual support. It is an everlasting joy; is not temporary. It also brings humility and contrition; these are His free gifts. The consolation that comes from God also clear and evident.
God will especially answer our prayer for spiritual things
God does not stand seeing us in need of material things, so imagine how He feels regarding our spiritual needs. This means that when we ask for the salvation of our souls, He will definitely help us, strengthen us and support us for our eternity. For God wants all people to be saved. I wish we would all care about the salvation of our souls and ask God with earnestness to help us and strengthen us. We help Him when we desire our salvation, when we ask and work for it. He, in return, will bless our work and give us the grace with which we reach [heaven].
Ref: Tamav Erene – Leader and mother in the monastic pastures (book 4)
The Art of Orthodoxy 