Symeon the New Theologian: “trials and tribulations”
“Since ‘the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force’ (Mt. 11:12), and it is impossible for the faithful to enter it by any other way, unless they come through the narrow gate of trials and tribulations, the divine oracle rightly commands us, saying: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow door’ (Lk. 13:24). Again He says, ‘By your endurance you will gain your souls’ (Lk. 21:19), and, ‘Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of heaven’ (Acts 14:22).”
Saint Symeon the New Theologian
“War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and… has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.”
John Stuart Mill
Maximos the Confessor: “spiritual knowledge”
“We cannot use our intelligence to think about God at the same time as we experience Him, or have an intellection of Him while we are perceiving Him directly. By ‘think about God’ I mean speculate about Him on the basis of an analogy between Him and created beings. By ‘perceiving Him directly’ I mean experiencing divine or supranatural realities through participation. By ‘an intellection of Him’ I mean the simple and unitary knowledge of God which is derived from created beings. What we have said is confirmed by the fact that, in general, our experience of a thing puts a stop to our thinking about it, and our direct perception of it supersedes our intellection of it. By ‘experience’ I mean spiritual knowledge actualized on a level that transcends all thought; and by ‘direct perception’ I mean a supra-intellective participation in what is known. Perhaps this is what St. Paul mystically teaches when he says, ‘As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for speaking in tongues, this will cease; as for knowledge, it too will vanish’ (I Cor 13:8); for he is clearly referring here to the knowledge gained by the intelligence through thought and intellection.”
Saint Maximos the Confessor
Zbigniew Brzezinski : “to manipulate the behavior and intellectual functioning of all the people”
“Speaking of a future at most only decades away, an experimenter in intelligence control asserted, ‘I foresee a time when we shall have the means and therefore, inevitably, the temptation to manipulate the behavior and intellectual functioning of all the people through environmental and biochemical manipulation of the brain.'”
Zbigniew Brzezinski, Between Two Ages America’s Role in the Technotronic Era, 1970
I am convinced that there are indeed powerful people who are working and scheming behind the scenes, pursuing their demonically inspired agendas through whichever bought and paid for politician is most effective for them at the time. – Θεόφιλος
“A man needs to satisfy his conscience towards God by not despising God’s precepts, even those concerning things which are not seen by men or those things for which one is not accountable to men. For example, did he neglect his prayers? If an evil thought came into his heart, was he vigilant and did he keep control of himself or did he entertain it? He sees his neighbor saying or doing something; does he suspect it is evil and condemn him? To put it simply, all the hidden things that happen inside us, things which no one sees except God and our conscience, we need to take account of. This is what I mean by our conscience towards God.”
Saint Dorotheos of Gaza
Prince Phillip: “In the event that I am reincarnated”
“In the event that I am reincarnated, I would like to return as a deadly virus, in order to contribute something to solve overpopulation.”
Prince Phillip of England, Reported by Deutsche Press Agentur (DPA), August, 1988.
Like the old story of the frog that gets boiled alive because the temperature of the water in which it sits rises only gradually, most of us continue to live our lives seeming to not quite be able to take in the growing realisation that a great many of the people who lead us are dangerous sociopaths and scoundrels, and that this actually has real-world consequences. – Θεόφιλος
What are the big rocks in your life?
“Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be yours as well.” Matthew 6:33
A good story can capture the imagination and illustrate a point better than most anything else. This story grabbed me and, I think, perhaps illustrates something of what Jesus was saying when, in the Sermon on the Mount, he said that we should, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness”.
One day an expert in time management was speaking to a group of business students and to drive home a point, used an illustration those students will never forget.
As he stood in front of the group of high powered overachievers he said, “Okay, time for a quiz.” Then he pulled out a one-gallon, wide mouth mason jar and set it on the table in front of him. Then he produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, “Is the jar full?”
Everyone in the class said, “Yes.”
Then he said, “Really?’ He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel in and shook the jar causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the space between the big rocks. Then he asked the group once more, “Is the jar full?”
By this time the class was on to him. “Probably not,” one of them answered.
“Good!” he replied. He reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in the jar and it went into all of the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question, “Is this jar full?”
“No!” the class shouted.
Once again he said, “Good.” Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked at the class and asked, “What is the point of this illustration?”
One very zealous student raised her hand and said, “The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard you can always fit some more things in it!”
“No,” the speaker replied, “that’s not the point. The truth this illustration teaches us is: if you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all.”
The season of Lent which we are now in is a time for each person to think about what are the “big rocks” in your life? Time with your loved ones? Your career? Your education? Your dreams? A worthy cause?
…How big a rock would you say that your Lord God is?
Remember to put the big rocks in first or you’ll never get them in at all. So, when you are reflecting on this short story, ask yourself this question: What are the ‘big rocks’ in my life? Then, put those in your jar first.
A tenth century Christian saint, Saint Simeon the New Theologian, put it this way: “The aim of all those who live in God is to please our Lord Jesus Christ and become reconciled with God the Father through receiving the Holy Spirit, thus securing their salvation, for in this consists the salvation of every soul. If this aim and this activity is lacking, all other labour is useless and all other striving is in vain. Every path of life which does not lead to this is without profit.”
