“Contrition is his very name!” This is how the authors describe a monk who not only is contrite of heart, but who also lives always in this state. What becomes clear in the writings and experience of the desert fathers is that contrition is the source of consolation. The capacity to see one’s sin, though painful, is also the path to healing. It draws us to God and creates a thirst in our heart that only he can satisfy.
We might wonder how we, living in the world, can maintain the same state. It is not only by humbly acknowledging our sins before God or remembering our mortality. This certainly contributes to fostering such blessed mourning. Yet what truly shapes the heart is the realization that our soul, which is of greater worth to us than the whole world, has been deadened by sins and lies dying before us. One contemporary elder said that God loves an individual soul more than the entire cosmos! It is this vision of the beauty of the human soul and the depth of God‘s love that moves the heart the most to the sorrow that draws us back to the Beloved; that gives rise to the tears that become a source of true consolation. May God fill our hearts with such contrition and open our eyes to the depth of his love.
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Text of chat during the group:
00:13:21 Una: What page are we on in the Nun Christina translation?
00:14:09 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Not sure. I don’t have that translation
00:14:25 Janine: Page 182 nun christina
00:15:44 Bob Čihák, AZ: P 246, first full paragraph
00:18:11 Una: Thank you for the page number
00:21:38 wayne: Is there a difference between contrition and repentance?
00:29:08 Suzanne Romano: I'm hearing a beautiful dichotomy. The sense of being incapable of perfectly conforming to the will of God; and yet a deep consolation.
00:58:58 Rebecca Thérèse: song of Bernadette
00:59:06 Nypaver Clan: Song of Bernadette
01:04:29 Janine: St Gregory of Narak
01:05:08 Janine: From the depths of the heart
01:13:26 Sean Coe: Maintain a spirit of peace and you will save a thousand souls - St Seraphim of Sarov
01:18:19 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️
01:18:27 Suzanne Romano: Pax!
01:18:32 Troy Amaro: Thank You Father.
01:18:37 Sean Coe: Thank you, Fr Charbel
