Philokalia Ministries Father David Abernethy

Every week it is as if we are diving into living waters that renew and refresh the soul. This is particularly true of step 26 on Discernment and St. John’s summary towards its conclusion. So often as is true with the Fathers, St. John makes use of concrete and colorful imagery to capture for us the nature of the spiritual life and in this case discernment. 
What one gathers in so many of the teachings is that Faith involves seeing; a pulling back of the veil that allows us to see with perfect clarity the love and the mercy of God. St. John describes the many things that hobble us in that regard: Avarice, pride, attachment to our appetites and desire for the things of this world. It also describes the things that sharpen that vision and open us up to receive the gift of faith. Our pursuit of the virtues, and of the truth in our life lays the foundation to receive the greater gift of eternal Truth. This kind of seeing is not passive but rather involves the whole self. The deepest part of ourselves, the Nous, must be purified by Grace and asceticism so no impediment prevents us from moving toward God. The Nous becomes the “helmsman” then to lead us through the rough waters of this world.
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Text of chat during the group:
00:12:54 FrDavid Abernethy: page 219 number 42
 
00:49:30 Lisa Smith: It reminds me of the verse where Christ asked if there would be faith in the end time.
 
00:51:43 Wayne: How do you respond to the remark I am spiritual but not religious?
 
00:58:48 Lisa Smith: Thoughts on church attendance? I'm struggling with this presently. I'm not Catholic, but I'm interested in this faith. Thank you Fr.
 
01:00:34 Lisa Smith: 🙏 Thank you
 
01:03:14 Cindy Moran: Teilhard de Chardin comes to my mind as an example.
 
01:03:40 Cindy Moran: Too complicated
 
01:15:07 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂
 
01:15:10 sprou: did you see that a blind woman Dafne Gutierrez was healed by St
Charbel?
 
01:15:12 Lisa Smith: God bless you Fr. Thanks for sharing
 
01:15:51 Andrew Adams: Thank you Father!
 
01:16:02 Jeff O.: Thank you! Great to be with you all.
 

The focus of the Evergetinos this evening was on praying the psalms. However, as always with the writings of the fathers, the focus isn’t simply on the external actions, but the meaning of them. How do we pray as members of the body of Christ? Is there a kind of liturgical asceticism that must match our bodily asceticism?  What is the measure of our prayer? In other words, as those who live in a spirit of repentance and seek purity of heart, how do these realities shape the way we pray. 
The fathers this understood very well our tendency to focus on externals and that we can fall back into a modern day Pharisaism. We can be satisfied with the appearance of religiosity while giving scant attention to what God has revealed to us and the life that he has called us to embrace. Whenever this happens, it not only weakens our capacity to bear witness to Christ but it can undermine the life of the Church as a whole. If our hearts are fragmented by our sin this will manifest itself or be mirrored in liturgy. And when this takes place the entire culture around us - as well as within the church - can collapse. 
It’s a sobering presentation, but something that afflicts the Church in every generation. If the Evil One is going to attack the Church, he is going to attack it at its heart; that is, how we pray.
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Text of chat during the group:
00:25:00 Kate : There’s also the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary which is very suitable for the laity.
 
00:25:13 Vanessa: Reacted to "There’s also the Lit..." with ❤️
 
00:25:22 Adam Paige: Reacted to "There’s also the Lit..." with ❤️
 
00:39:40 iPad (2): That is a wonderful book and he also has a podcast series on the book
 
00:50:47 Rod Castillo: The Endarkenment
 
00:54:30 Bob Cihak: Reacted to "The Endarkenment" with 👍
 
00:57:03 Maureen Cunningham: Oh no
 
00:57:07 Vanessa: Lol
 
01:04:40 Kate : Our family has witnessed many a liturgical battle which seemed good and urgent at the time, only to realize that God has been lost in the battle.  The battle took center stage, and striving for holiness took back stage.
 
01:14:53 Maureen Cunningham: Thank you It is wonderful .
 
01:15:48 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂
 
01:15:54 Troy Amaro: Thank You Father.
 
01:16:22 Andrew Adams: Thank you Father!
 
01:17:13 Maureen Cunningham: Wonderful choice I trust. The lord is leading you as the Captain of the ship in the studies
 
01:17:26 Vanessa: Reacted to "Wonderful choice I t..." with 👍
 
01:17:47 Maureen Cunningham: Where would we find the book
 
01:17:54 Lorraine Green: Thank you, Father, God bless!  The Divine Office talks sound very good too.
 

As St. John draws us forward with these simple sayings about discernment and its fruit, we begin to see the immeasurable beauty of the ascetic life and the action of God’s grace. The life that God calls us to is not one of frenetic activity but rather the cultivation of purity of heart and humility in order that He might act within us. We do not seek simply freedom from sin but rather the life of the kingdom. It is the love, the virtue, the goodness of Christ that transforms the world. It is our entrance into the Paschal Mystery, the dying and rising of the spiritual life (with and in Christ), that makes the love of the kingdom present to the world. 
The life of the hesychasts, the ascetics who set all aside for Christ, is at the very heart of the church. When we lose sight of their love and desire for God, the church grows cold.  It is in the spirituality of the desert that the church will find renewal; when the minds and the hearts of men and women are open to the beauty of the life that God has called us to by His Grace.
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Text of chat during the group:
00:37:24 Anthony: In a way, some of the response to church scandal has been like an ill- guided peasants crusade.
 
00:39:35 Anthony: The peasants crusade led to harm for thr peasants
 
00:54:23 sprou: does solitude equal spiritual warfare?
 
00:55:33 David: I liked what Bishop Barron said about love being willing the good of the other. (St. John Paul) but first one needs to know what the good is and what is truth.
 
00:56:03 Vanessa: Reacted to "I liked what Bishop ..." with 👍
 
00:56:58 Jeff O.: I’ve often wondered about the connection between the cultivation of
hesychia and Paul’s admonition to stand in Ephesians 6…it seems there’s some sort of relationship there as it relates to warfare
 
00:57:01 David: This was in response to a lot of virtue signaling and some of the strange things in our culture.
 
01:04:43 Kate : A priest told me that hesychia is a form of quietism.  His comment confused me, and I did not know how to reply.
 
01:06:47 Anthony: Uh oh, Palmas vs Barlaam again..... 😉
 
01:08:39 David: In Latin America it is common with quasi liberation theology priest and lay
people to call them navel gazers but this is just seeing the outside aspect not understanding what is being developed. I always call the fathers the intranauts boldly going to the root of our condition.
 
01:13:18 David: Holiness attracts and people seek what they feel and see in joy and peace of others. N
 
01:13:32 Vanessa: Reacted to "Holiness attracts an..." with ❤️
 
01:13:51 Vanessa: Really enjoying class tonight. Lots of good discussion.
 
01:14:25 Kate : Father, prior to listening to these classes and discovering the Fathers, my ladder was propped against the wrong wall for years…as you stated earlier.  These classes and the Fathers have so transformed my interior life.   I have only begun to understand the love of God.
 
01:15:04 Nick Bodmer: Jesus even rebuked Martha because she was discontent that Mary was not being "worldly enough" in her eyes.  The spiritual life was established even while Jesus was still with us.
 
01:21:40 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂
 
01:21:51 cmoran: Thank you, Father!
 
01:21:53 Lisa Smith: Thank you God bless you
 
01:22:29 Andrew Adams: Thank you, Father! Praying for you!
 
01:22:33 Jeff O.: Thank you! Blessing to be with you all.
 
01:22:41 David: Thank you father will pray for you!
 
 

We continued with St. John’s summary of discernment and its particular fruit in the spiritual life. However, it does not read like a summary. Each saying opens us up to a divine reality and a participation in the life of Christ that comes to us by grace and the ascetic life. One cannot help but be captivated by the beauty of what St. John describes. It becomes evident that what we are being drawn into is the very beauty of Christ and that of the kingdom. Grace has the capacity to transform even the darkest of things within us and to illuminate the mind and the heart to see clearly what has eternal value. With the reading of each saying one begins to experience a holy desire growing within the heart. Thanks be to God!
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Text of chat during the group:
00:06:34 FrDavid Abernethy: page 217 page 14
 
00:25:57 Anthony: He says this while I'm making dinner....
 
00:31:19 David: Despair is suffering without meaning- Victor Frankl
 
00:49:34 Eric Ewanco: Reacted to "Κλίμαξ αγίου Ιωάννου.LadderClimatuspdf" with ❤️
 
00:49:43 Eric Ewanco: Reacted to "TheLadderofDivineAscent.pdf" with 👍
 
00:50:29 Lisa Smith: Reacted to "TheLadderofDivineAscent.pdf" with 🙏
 
00:57:24 David: The gate also opens like Grace and one needs to be drawn to the opening in the fence.
 
01:02:59 Anthony: If our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts....
 
01:20:11 David: They are finding so much in neuroplasticity that the fathers described ages ago. One the pathways are established it becomes a cycle. Lots of talk about "rewiring the mind". I think fasting might actually help with rewiring because you are not rewarding a undesired behavior.
 
01:20:36 Rachel: That was in relation to the other discussion
 
01:21:56 David: No money in fasting
 
01:22:10 Rebecca Thérèse: Fasting literally rewires the brain because the body starts to generate new neurons after 48 hours of fasting.
 
01:22:24 Vanessa: Reacted to "Fasting literally re..." with 👍
 
01:22:30 David: Autophagy as well
 
01:23:28 Rebecca Thérèse: Reacted to "Autophagy as well" with 👍
 
01:25:14 Rebecca Thérèse: Autophagy is where the cells start to digest damaged parts of the body and damage interior to cells
 
01:26:04 Bob Cihak: Autophagy is also known as apoptosis. I call it cellular recycling.
 
01:26:32 Rebecca Thérèse: Fasting stimulates growth hormone which os useful in repairing damage and is also useful if you're a body builder
 
01:26:49 Susanna Joy: Love this clas🙏🏻💖
 
01:26:59 Lisa Smith: Too Fast. Thank you Fr
 
01:27:41 Sophia: God bless you fr.Abernethy!
 
01:27:42 Susanna Joy: Thank you, Father.
 
01:27:42 Art: Thank you Father!
 
01:27:43 Jeff O.: Thank you!
 
01:27:43 Cindy Moran: Thank you Father
 
01:27:43 David: Thank you father !
 
01:27:51 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂
 

We continued our discussion of prayer and the things that often become an obstacle to it. Much of the discussion this evening focused upon the things that make us lazy or weary in prayer or lead us to drowsiness.


One of the important things that the fathers teach us is that sleep is an appetite that is to be ordered like any other appetite. Our life has been given to us for repentance; that is, to turn toward God and to seek to love him with all of our heart. It is this reality that should shape the way that we look at prayer, the way that we discipline ourselves - and yes - even how we sleep.
 


Rising at night is one of the most wonderful times for prayer for a number of reasons. The mind and the body are humbled. The thoughts are often not moving so rapidly nor the world around us and its noises. Praying at night provides us with an opportunity to enter into deep silence, so as to listen to God and the word he wishes to utter in the depths of our hearts.
 


Therefore, there are times when we will have to force ourselves in order to strengthen our will to not only bring ourselves to prayer but to remain there. Whenever we experience drowsiness, we must resist it firmly. Often we will give up a discipline when we face difficulty. It is our love for the Lord, however, that must send us out at night seeking He alone who can satisfy the longings of our heart.
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Text of chat during the group:

 
00:02:04 FrDavid Abernethy: we can hear you
 
00:02:21 FrDavid Abernethy: page 89
 
00:21:49 Anthony: I did that. I'd go back. It drove me nuts, playing on scrupulous feelings
 
00:49:25 Ann Thelen: Quick question regarding food/fasting...how do we deal with the temptation to vanity when we are attempting to fast? We know fasting has wonderful health benefits. One of those benefits is that we look better and more healthy which can feed into vanity.
 
01:04:22 Anthony: Menaion?
 
01:17:14 Lisa Smith: Thank you & God bless
 
01:17:56 Andrew Adams: Thank you Father!
 
01:17:57 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂
 
01:18:04 Nicole Dillon: Thank you ☺️
 
01:18:08 Troy Amaro: Thank You Father. Praying for you.
 
01:18:19 Ann Thelen: Thank you.
 
01:18:26 Cindy Moran: Thanks
 

As we come toward the end of Step 26 on Discernment, St. John begins to offer us a summary of all that we have considered in the previous pages. In doing this, he alters his typical way of writing. One may speculate that he does this because of the importance of the virtue of discernment; both in fostering it and in protecting it.  Using brief sayings, very much like those found in the Philokalia, St. John begins to lay out for us the path to perfecting this virtue as well as to speak of the fruits of it in our lives. 
Our capacity to see spiritual realities in an unimpeded fashion allows us to be attentive to all of the vices as well as the remedies that the fathers set before us for overcoming them. In summarizing the step in this fashion, St. John presents us with the truth very much in the way that we receive it from the gospel. It overturns the worldly way of viewing things. It allows us to experience the discomfort of having our sensibilities challenged in regards to our patterns of thought and our most basic desires. It compels us to ask ourselves, “For whom  do I live? Who do I love above all things?”
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Text of chat during the group:
00:02:46 FrDavid Abernethy: page 215
 
00:02:51 FrDavid Abernethy: number 85
 
00:03:29 FrDavid Abernethy: number 185
 
00:08:47 Tracey Fredman: Thank you, Fr. David for referencing the book "Toward God" by Michael Casey. It's amazing!
 
00:08:57 FrDavid Abernethy: great!!
 
00:09:11 FrDavid Abernethy: he’s a wonderful writer
 
00:09:40 Kate : I am reading it too!  It is wonderful.   Like nothing I have read before.
 
00:09:41 FrDavid Abernethy: his book on lectio divina called Sacred reading is great too
 
00:26:15 Anthony: Do you have any comments on discerning the origin of thoughts without playing with the thoughts?
 
00:43:12 Anthony: That makes sense since Eros is a seeking, inquisitive movement.
 
00:51:38 David Swiderski: Especially prayer with gratitude.
 
00:52:19 Andy Nguyen: Replying to "Especially prayer wi..." 
 
 Yup
 
00:52:21 Wayne: Reacted to "Especially prayer wi..." with 👍
 
00:58:03 Lisa Smith: I just read this today.
 
01:01:41 Andy Nguyen: Social media in general is an addiction
 
01:02:00 Rod Castillo: I go on to Facebook every day to see what you
have posted, Father
 
01:02:36 Lee Graham: I go to X
 
01:03:05 Susanna Joy: Reacted to I go on to Facebook ... with "❤️"
 
01:03:35 Lisa Smith: Yeah, there was a time I would turn the internet off totally. It was easier to pray more fully then. I struggle with that these days.
 
01:03:44 Susanna Joy: Replying to "I go on to Facebook ..." 
 
 I do too...you often...
 
01:04:26 Lisa Smith: But on the flip side I discovered Eastern Christianity online.
 
01:04:40 Art iPhone: Reacted to "But on the flip side…" with 👌
 
01:04:46 Art iPhone: Reacted to "I go on to Facebook …" with 👌
 
01:05:45 Art iPhone: Your posts Have real value Father.
 
01:05:49 BRIAN L: Your posting of On the Passion of the Saviour became part of my daily Lenten prayer so thank you 😃
 
01:09:17 David Swiderski: I have read this before with the Fathers I think Issac and I don't understand the relation between deer and snakes. Deer seem like fragile creatures and I grew up always being close to them. Destroyers of roses and alfalfa yes.
 
01:11:14 Jeffrey Fitzgerald: Father, what is the next book after Climacus?
 
01:11:24 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: Prayers, Father!
 
01:11:38 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂. Have a good retreat🙏
 
01:11:39 Jeff O.: Many blessings on your time there!!
 
01:11:49 Lori Hatala: and i will be guilty of jealousy
 
01:11:53 Susanna Joy: Praying for you.🙏🏻
 
01:11:55 Wayne: Replying to "Father, what is the ..."
 
good question
 
01:11:56 Art iPhone: Prayers!!
 
01:12:35 Andrew Adams: Thank you Father! Have a blessed retreat!!
 
01:12:37 David Swiderski: Safe travels and God Bless you father!
 
01:12:39 Jeff O.: Thank you Fath