Walking on the Waters of the Sea of Life
Reading the Gospel passage about how the Apostle Peter walked on water towards Christ and then began to sink, brings our thoughts back to the symbolic image of the sea of life.
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To avoid drowning in this sea, one must have a heart turned to Christ. «Lift up your hearts», we hear every time before the beginning of the Eucharistic canon. The mind, like Lot's wife, pulls us to the bottom, frightening us with phantoms of dangers and fears of sorrows. Only a life without murmuring and acceptance of God's will as one's own can prevent drowning. Those who are strongly attached to the things and affairs of this world perish in this journey. Those whose spirit unwaveringly abides in God overcome the gravity of the earth.
Ballast that pulls to the bottom
Attachments are a very heavy load, with which it is impossible to walk on water. A mind filled with news, clutter of unnecessary information, fears, and anxieties is the heaviest ballast for such a journey. Reflecting on the spiritual is interesting, theological conversations entertain our ego, but bring no benefit to the soul. It is much better to learn to live in God silently, quietly, and prayerfully.
Underwater caves that attract the drowning have the inscription «pleasure» at the entrance and «disappointment» at the exit. Youth dives headlong into this quagmire, old age is bound hand and foot by cares, and only in middle age, having tasted enough disappointments, can one still swim to the shore of truth.
Faith is not knowledge, but content.
Its presence or absence is tested in sorrowful circumstances. Knowledge is water painted on canvas, while faith is a living spring from which one can always drink.
Our main enemy is egoism
Christ commanded us to love one another, but did not give instructions on how to do it. Therefore, everyone understands love in their own way. But true love does not conflict with freedom. Jealousy, the desire to possess, is not love, but egoism. It is our main enemy.
It is egoism that managed to convince our mind that holiness is not for us, that it is «not our measure».
Self-love and self-pity have frightened us with the sorrows we supposedly will face on the path to God. Sensuality suggests «building booths» at the crater of an active volcano because «it is good for us here». Thus, instead of being saved, a person hides in a cardboard house of illusions, hoping that «somehow it will pass». Although deep down he knows for sure: it will not pass. The door for escape is hidden inside our heart. There Christ awaits us.
Salvation is possible only now
Most people want to live better. It is very rare to meet someone who wants to be saved. And salvation cannot be accomplished yesterday or tomorrow. It is possible only now.
Only now can we remember God and overcome the world by the power of Christ.
Only now can we gain freedom from thoughts, immerse the mind in the heart, practice the Jesus Prayer, forgive and let go of all grievances. God is with us only now and at no other time. But the devil, putting the bridle of memory and imagination on us, pulls us either into the past or the future, not allowing us to live in the present.
How then to achieve peace? To accept with the heart and understand with the mind that God has calculated everything to the smallest detail, and He never makes mistakes. Then we can walk on the waves of the sea of life, understanding that we do this not by the power of our abilities, but by the grace of God, which saves all who trust in it.
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