Why is it that so many well intentioned believers, so many people who confess the name of Christ, find it nearly impossible to get out of the block, so to speak, in putting their good intentions, their good thoughts about serving
God into practice. And why is it also that so many who are capable of getting out of the block can't complete the race and turn the good intention into a studied, permanent, holy habit, something that will create a strong foundation for godly living and bring peace, because keeping the commandments of God is a great path to peace and stability and joy. Well. One of the reasons, A
main reason is self sufficiency. It's relying upon oneself. I have a beautiful quote that I want to share with you from the great preacher and biblical theologian, Saint phil Out of Moscow, who reposed in the Lord in eighteen sixty seven. In the opening sermon, Saint Philarett meditates upon the danger of self sufficiency and how self sufficiency in fact kills spiritual progress. Let me read to you a
word about that. This is Saint Philarette. Let us say that a man desires to become good, he seeks to know the law of justice. He arouses his heart to virtuous feelings, he begins to accomplish good deeds, and what then. Experience only proves that the desire to be virtuous is often weaker than the passions that incline one to sin. Virtuous often defeated by vice. Experience shows that the law offers virtue, but it does not give the strength to
act upon it. Virtuous feelings coming from a cruel heart, like fire from flintstone, are difficult to bring to a steady flame, and they go out quickly as for a soft heart. Virtuous feelings may rise quickly, like a piece of linen catching fire, but they are destroyed just as quickly. Often, deeds that seem virtuous the surface prove themselves to be defiled by impure intentions such as avarice or desire for pleasure. In vanity, where true good is lacking, naturally, no spiritual
success can occur. The correct conclusion to be made of these experiences must be this, self sufficient man will always lose hope in himself self sufficiency. This is the death of spiritual progress, and it has to be killed. It
has to be killed. Saint Philaret continues and gives counsel on how in fact, to overcome self sufficiency, How to learn to rely upon the Lord, How in fact, to acknowledge your weakness in Saint Paul's language, so that in your weakness you can be strong and find that God's grace is sufficient for us to be transformed, to be changed. Listen again to Saint Philaret. If he does not want to perish, for a person will find nothing but failure.
If he has no actual success or hope, he has no choice but to raise his desires and hopes to God. And even though he cannot yet see or anticipate how his success will occur, he must offer himself to God as a ruin that he cannot repair himself. Ooh, did you hear that? What a beautiful word. If we're going to make spiritual progress, we have to acknowledge who we are. In the words of Saint Philaret, he must offer himself to God as a ruin that he cannot repair himself.
Think of that when you're preparing for Holy communion in the Divine liturgy. You're yearning to be united in a one flesh union with the Lord Christ himself, and you confess in that beautiful precomunion prayer when you say I believe a Lord, and I confess that thou art truly the Christ, the son of the Living God, who did come into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Think of that, tell yourself when you say that, yes, truly, I am a ruin before God, and without him is grace.
I will not be able to become what I need to be. Before his own personal efforts to do good were either completely suppressed inside him by his own evil inclinations, or they were proved to be incomplete and ineffectual. Now, when he commits his heart to the power of God, in that very weakness, the power of God begins to be accomplished within him, destroying evil and creating good. Oh, this is the path of your ones. This is the
path to spiritual progress. This is a fundamental conviction, a basic principle of the traditional Christian path to spiritual progress. Of course, it is greatly contradicted by the spirit of the age, including the religious spirit of the age in the West, which doesn't want to take the necessary embrace of humility to get to this position. But it's the only way. It's the only way. May the Lord God help you to reject self sufficiency and to lean on
the one who is sufficient for us. God be with you. Hey everyone, I hope you've downloaded the Patristic Nectar app on your phone. It is a treasure trove of soul nourishing content, and I hope you'll consider becoming a regular donor to Patristic Nectar today