Tag: thoughts

Aceticism: Facing The Sun

· Fr. Michael Gillis 4 Leave a Comment on %s
A confusing aspect of our Christian growth is that we can, sometimes even at the same moment, have a very peaceful, godly thought full of love for God and neighbour, and then have a terribly sinful and embarrassingly nasty thought.  How can this be?  If God is alive in us, how can such terrible thoughts keep appearing in our minds?  How do we combat this? One unhelpful way to combat this experience…

Lustful Thoughts

· Fr. Michael Gillis 7 Leave a Comment on %s
Many do not realize that the ancient Church Fathers deal rather specifically with the problem of unwanted sexual thoughts, albeit from a man’s perspective.  Unfortunately, there were very few women in the ancient world who were able or had the leisure to read and write, so there is a dearth of information about the inner life of women in the early centuries of the Church.  Consequently, women have to translate the struggles…

Indifference and Trying Harder

· Fr. Michael Gillis 5 Leave a Comment on %s
In my last post, Finding Peace Despite Sinful Thoughts, I spoke of the struggle to accept the struggle, to be at peace despite ongoing sinful thought.  I compared this struggle to the battle I have in my garden with bindweed. One of the readers of that article wrote the following comment, and I thought that I would share my response with everyone.  Here’s the comment: Thank you Father, One of the problems…

Finding Peace Despite Sinful Thoughts

· Fr. Michael Gillis 10 Leave a Comment on %s
It’s mid May and I’m weeding my garden again.  It is one of the most spiritually instructive physical activities of my year.  My on-going battle with one weed in particular functions as a genuine icon of my inner life.   Generally speaking, my wife and I are laissez-faire gardeners.  We have very few rows of anything, just areas where we plant one thing or another—often led by what volunteers in a given…

Admitting That We Hate

· Fr. Michael Gillis 6 Leave a Comment on %s
Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny (Matthew 5:25,26). It has been said by many others that the “adversary” in this saying from the…

The Almost Blind Leading the Almost Blind: Theosis For Those Who Do Not See Very Well

· Fr. Michael Gillis 8 Leave a Comment on %s
Often when I am answering questions from inquirers, I realize that I am saying (or writing) something that might be a blessing to others.  When that happens, I usually ask the person I am responding to if he or she would mind if I used some of what I have written to them as the basis of a blog post and podcast.  Yesterday I did my best to answer some questions from…

Sinful Dreams and Spiritual Warfare

· Fr. Michael Gillis 6 Leave a Comment on %s
A catechumen once asked what he could do to get victory over bad dreams: especially lustful dreams that roused his passions and often led him into temptation. I told him that this is one of those aspects of life in a fallen body that must be resisted and endured. One of the ways satan seeks to weary and wear out the saints (or those who strive to be holy) is through the…

The Unseen Martyrdom

· Fr. Michael Gillis 2 Leave a Comment on %s
  “This is the fiercest struggle, the struggle that resists a man unto blood, wherein free will is tested as to the singleness of his love for the virtues….It is here that we manifest our patience, my beloved brethren, our struggle and our zeal.  For this is the time of unseen martyrdom…” What is this struggle that St. Isaac speaks of and how can it be overcome? Is it some dread mysterious…

Advice On Distracting Thoughts In Prayer

· Fr. Michael Gillis
I just received the newsletter from St. Barbara’s Monastery, in Santa Paula, CA.  I consider the Abbess there, Abbess Victoria, my first spiritual father.  Or as I sometimes say, “my first spiritual father was a mother.”  In this newsletter, Abbess Victoria gives excellent advice on what to do with worries and other distracting thoughts in prayer.  I can think of nothing more edifying than to share with you than what she has…

Success

· Fr. Michael Gillis
I did a forty day memorial recently for a woman who died at a relatively young age (by today’s standards) who had been an immigrant to Canada from a war-torn Orthodox country where she had been raised in near abject poverty.  As young adults this young woman and her husband immigrated to Canada, worked very hard and raised two very successful children. Both have become doctors, one at a major research university.…