Loving or Hating
“It’s important to understand that when early Christians talked about love, they didn’t just mean a feeling. Their idea of love was infinitely more solid than that. They saw love as a description of what it means to be a person, of the way we are unified at the most fundamental level of our being, both in relation to one another (since mankind is ultimately one family) and also in relation to God. In other words, they didn’t view love as a feeling at all, but as a way of being. What they meant by love was the living, dynamic state of being in which we are both distinctly ourselves and simultaneously united to others.” (Dr. Zachary Porcu)
“With the help of the Holy Spirit, especially as expressed through the life of the parish or monastery community, Christians gradually increase their faithfulness, becoming adopted sons of God, equal to the angels, more like Christ. As we do that, we also are able to perceive the world more fully for what it truly is, to understand what the true conflicts of our time are about,…Seeing the world as it is, we therefore also become profoundly compassionate toward our fellow humans, who are not our enemies—even if they consciously have decided they are—but are actually afflicted by the demonic powers even as we are. With this compassion, we can then love them as God loves them, taking the initiative to show kindness in imitation of our Savior who died for us even while we were yet sinners (Rom. 5: 8).” (Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick)
“I have noticed that the faces of various people, all under the influence of the light of God, become the same—they become like the face of Christ. After you see this, there is a fullness in your heart; not just joy, but a fullness: Everything is clear, there are no questions, confusions, or guesswork. There is a piece of God in such light, and where God is, there is fullness. Divine light is in every person, but sometimes it’s difficult for this light to break through the mask that sin puts on your face. The holy face becomes just a face, the eyes grow dim, the face turns black, and the eyes are empty.” (Archpriest Andrew Lemeshonok)
“If the spiritual world is mere superstition, and the material world is mere matter, then where can the hidden forces of evil — powerful enough to delay (at least for a time) the otherwise inevitable March of Progress — possibly be found? There can be only one answer: in people. In one another. In our brothers and sisters, our kinsmen and countrymen, our family and friends. If we reject the belief that our enemies are spiritual beings, then the only enemies remaining to be found are human beings. And so, when inevitably confronted by all the wickedness and tragedy and pain of life in this world, we blame it all on one another. The conservatives blame the liberals, and the liberals blame the conservatives; the Americans blame the Russians, and the Russians blame the Americans; the secularists blame the Christians, and the Christians blame the secularists. We disbelieve in demons, and so make demons out of one another. And the demons themselves rejoice.” (Hieromonk Gabriel)
“It seems in so many situations we have forgotten to be Christians. We have forgotten that good, well intentioned people may not always see eye to eye …We have forgotten that our Kingdom is not of this world, but is a Kingdom of righteousness and peace in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). We have forgotten that mercy triumphs over justice (James 2: 13)…Fear and anger, however, seem to trump common sense and faith in God. Fear and anger open in us a floodgate of animal passions making it seem appropriate to demonize (or de-humanize) those we disagree with…Fear and anger create urgency so that we don’t have time to listen, we don’t have time to care, we don’t have time to be Christians.” (Fr. Michael Gillis)
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