Philokalia Ministries Father David Abernethy

It’s hard to imagine ourselves as being nourished upon stillness and silence. Yet, this is exactly what the fathers and St. John Climacus seek to teach us. Stillness allows us to have an experiential knowledge of intimacy with God - an encounter with Mystery.  When we have shut the door to the senses, when we stilled our mouth from constant chatter and when we have shut the gate of the heart to demonic powers, it is then that we become prayer and gaze upon the Lord face-to-face. Our petitions, our needs and sorrows are written with love and zeal. 
We are to become an earthly image of an angel, whose prayer has not only been freed from sloth and negligence, but even from a kind of self-consciousness. The heart is ever ready for the Lord and His approach; and even if the body should sleep, the heart is awake and awaiting the beloved. 
Therefore, stillness is not only about being quiet, but rather it is a path to intimacy. The greater one’s love grows, the more passionate one becomes in their desire for God - everything on the periphery fades away and we see only our Lord.
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Text of chat during the group:
00:09:13 Fr. Charbel: page 223 no 11
 
00:24:18 Kate : “What more do you want, 0 soul! And what else do you search for outside, when within yourself you possess your riches, delights, satisfactions, fullness, and kingdom - your Beloved whom you desire and seek? Be joyful and gladdened in your interior recollection with Him, for you have Him so close to you. Desire Him there, adore Him there. Do not go in pursuit of Him outside yourself. You will only become distracted and wearied thereby, and you shall not find Him, nor enjoy Him more securely, nor sooner, nor more intimately than by seeking Him within you.” St John of the Cross
 
00:30:42 Rebecca Thérèse: Can the Holy Spirit shine light on the soul directly, for example if there is no suitable spiritual director or if there are people actively trying to corrupt and mislead the soul?
 
00:39:08 Nypaver Clan: Is it healthy to have a spiritual director who becomes ones “best friend”?  Where are the boundaries to be set for a spiritual director?
 
00:41:54 Rachel: Yes, it jeopardizes their capacity to love, purely. As we cannot love purely with a gaze directed towards self or creatures
 
00:43:40 Rachel: it reduces the capacity to see God in the other and the only way a priest can help another or lay people help another is to first know God, to seek God and the ultimatele friendship in God, " I call you friends"
 
01:08:00 Fr Marty, AZ: I wanted to add to spiritual direction discussion. Everything that was said about spiritual directors is important. Boundaries and confidentiality are needful and we’re also meant to grow in detachment; that’s part of hesychasm. Nonetheless, this doesn’t mean without care and affection. I’ve been close to spiritual directors, especially after ten or fifteen years of direction. And I’ve also became good friends of their other spiritual children. In a detached way, we had joy, love, and openness, but still my spiritual directors were not friends.  And boundaries were still maintained. And when we’ve buried them, the other spiritual children fondly remembered their care for us. On the other hand, I once asked a friend who is an exceptional spiritual director to be mine but it didn’t work out.
 
01:10:09 Eric Ewanco: I observe that stillness and silence plays a central role in the desert fathers, but I don't recall it being discussed in Scripture. Is this based on experience and tradition, or is it rooted in something in Scripture?
 
01:13:31 Greg C: Thank you, Father!
 
01:13:38 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂
 
01:13:44 Jennifer Ahearn: Thank you.
 
01:13:48 Lori Hatala: Happy Birthday
 
01:14:27 Cindy Moran: Thank you Father.
 
01:14:35 Jeff O.: Thank you! Great to be with you all.
 
01:14:38 Nypaver Clan: A blessed birthday, Mrs. A.!
 

We picked up this evening with Hypothesis 12. The subtitle is on avoiding idle talk. However, this does not do justice to what we are given in the text. It is revealed to us how we are to kindle within our hearts the fire of love for God that then gives rise to a holy sacrifice of praise. 
Thus, the greatest thing that we can give God is to emulate the angels who praise Him without ceasing. Our love for the Lord should give rise to an urgent longing within the heart to call out to Him constantly and without distraction. 
Likewise, when we pray in common, we are to be attentive to the fact that we are responsible for the attentiveness of those around us and seek to preserve their focus. We do not pray or chant in an individualistic fashion but again imitate the angels in crying out to the Lord with one voice of love. 
What a blessing monks are for the church. The fathers tell us that Christ perfects the praise of infants; that is, he prefects the prayer of the monk in his innocence and childlike simplicity. It is through this humble prayer and sacrifice of praise that the demons are conquered. What makes this even more powerful is that it is often done hidden from the eyes of the world. Such prayer is offered without pride or self-consciousness. Rather it rises unimpeded to the very throne of God on behalf of all.
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Text of chat during the group:
00:46:55 Forrest Cavalier: Since you mentioned the comment of the monk, I was thinking that every vocation is "impossible". Hence the need for grace.
 
01:06:33 Lorraine Green: Thank you!
 
01:07:05 Lisa Smith: Thank you Fr. And God bless you.🙏
 
01:07:26 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you
 

St. John Climacus brings us now to discuss the fruits of the ascetic life. We picked up this evening with Step 27 on “stillness of mind and body”. John is very hesitant to approach such a subject. He does not want to distract the warrior from the task at hand; that is, those who are engaged in the spiritual warfare against the passions and the provocations of the evil one.  He only relents because he understands how important it is to see the goal of the spiritual life so that it might increase our desire for God and our detachment from the things of the world. 
Holy stillness emerges when the Nous, the eye of the heart, has become impenetrable and undistracted by the noise of the world. The disordered passions have now become a purified and single passion or desire for God. The love of and immersion in silence deepens because it is there that God speaks a Word that is equal to Himself. The language of Love, beyond words, begins to well up from within - united to the Spirit that cries out with groans that are beyond our understanding. 
St. John acknowledges that many will not perceive or grasp the holy violence of the Hesychast; that is, the radical turning away from the things of the world in order to turn completely toward God. This turning toward God, however, does not limit our vision or comprehension as those who are worldly often believe. Rather, it opens us up to an experience of infinite mystery of God himself; everlasting Life and Love.
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Text of chat during the group:
00:06:16 FrDavid Abernethy: page 221
 
00:06:30 FrDavid Abernethy: Sept 27 On Holy Stillness
 
00:36:18 Anthony: How do we relate, then to people like I have met, pagan Hindus and a Muslim, who also appeared to me to have this spirit of peace?
 
00:41:16 Rachel: Yes!!
 
00:41:32 Rachel: Saint Charles de Foucald
 
00:41:55 Rachel: Algeria
 
00:42:05 Rachel: same as St. Charles De Foucald
 
00:43:55 David: O Gods and Men is the movie
 
00:44:25 David: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1588337/
 
00:45:06 David: The original is French Des Hommes et des dieux
 
00:47:14 Jeff O.: When I was Nepal, the Christians would, instead of greeting with “namaste” greet with the phrase “J’amasee” - “I honor Christ (and his work) in you.” I thought that was a beautiful way to greet people with the honor and love of seeing Christ in the other…
 
00:49:17 Rachel: This happens in iconography as well/
 
00:49:31 Anthony: Reacted to This happens in icon... with "👍"
 
00:49:41 Rachel: Or I should say, sacred art as opposed to iconogrpahy
 
00:53:09 Rachel: I am not criticizing either but making a distinction when someone thinks that" abstraction" in iconography is simplified, yet, it is the overly realistic and naturalistic emphasis on every line that detracts from the mystery that is being revealed before us.
 
00:58:22 Rachel: Oh my goodness. That is so beautiful. Thank you for sharing.
 
01:00:03 Anthony: Reacted to When I was Nepal, th... with "👍"
 
01:01:09 Maureen Cunningham: Did Father Damion who lived among the leaders in Hawaii
 
01:01:27 Anthony: Replying to "I am not criticizing..." 
 
 Compare the "naive" ...
 
01:02:17 Maureen Cunningham: He would go on a boat to and yell his confessions. I was told
 
01:02:44 David: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0165196/
 
01:11:26 David: Theology without practice is the theology of demons- Maximus the Confessor
 
01:14:34 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You Father
 
01:15:02 David: Thank you father!
 
01:15:02 Jennifer Ahearn: Thank you
 
01:15:05 Rachel: Thank you
 
01:15:05 Jeff O.: thank you!
 
01:15:19 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank yu
 

As we conclude Hypothesis 11, we are given very solid food to nourish our understanding of the nature of prayer and our demeanor. How is it that we are called to worship God, to pray the psalms, and what is our demeanor to be following that worship? 
A kind of liturgical asceticism must guide and direct our prayer and piety. Even the way that we pray and celebrate the liturgy, and one might say especially here, must allow the grace of God to guide and direct us. As always, Christ is the standard and the model. It is his humility, silence, obedience to God that must form and shape the way that we approach the altar and the manner in which we listen to the word of God. 
We must pray in a manner fosters patience and that allows us to listen with the spirit of contrition. We gather before God not to alter our emotional state or to create an experience that simply elevates the mind. We come before God to offer him a sacrifice of praise and that sacrifice is the fullness of our self. We are to be completely given over to him in such way that we withhold nothing from Him and are capable of receiving everything He desires to give us. 
Very few in our day think of worship in this fashion. May God give us the grace to offer him all that we have and are; for in seeking what He desires, God bestows upon us more than the mind in the heart can imagine.
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Text of chat during the group:
00:21:49 susan: after MASS i have to go to my car to pray!
 
00:48:07 Carol Roper: it seems that the caution is against performing, vanity, pleasure seeking, even in liturgy. one's motivation must be examined carefully i imagine
 
00:52:59 Anthony: Let Us Build the City of God.....they still sing it.  Sigh.  Are you TRYING to get me to change rites?
 
01:02:16 Rebecca Thérèse: a bruised reed he will not break and a dimly burning wick he will not quench
 
01:02:17 Carol Roper: oppressed and afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth, like a lamb led to the shearers
 
01:04:52 Dave Warner (AL): A bruised reed He will not break - Isa 42:3
 
01:05:17 Rebecca Thérèse: Isaiah 42:3 Matthew 12:20
 
01:16:22 Lisa Smith: Thank you & God Bless you.
 
01:16:36 Cameron Jackson: Thank you
 
01:17:19 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂
 
01:17:26 Dave Warner (AL): Thank you Father!
 
01:17:27 Troy Amaro: Thank You Father
 

We come to the end of Step 26 on Discernment and in doing so we begin to see, or at least get a glimpse of, its importance for the spiritual life. So often sin distorts are perception of reality. It prevents us from seeing with clarity both the dignity and the blessings that come from being a son or daughter of God, baptized into Christ - as well as preventing us from seeing the darkness of sin. 
Christ tells us in the gospel that when the eye has been darkened completely, how great is the darkness! When the eye of the heart, the eye of the soul is darkened by sin then all that we see is the world before us in its most basic form. We see it as an object of consumption or we covet the things that we do not possess. 
In this we can become more like beasts who walk on all fours with their eyes cast down to the earth. It is discernment that allows us to see the glory of God in Christ Jesus. In the end, discernment gives rise to the acquisition of love - that is to say, the perfect dwelling of God.
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Text of chat during the group:
00:13:56 David: Father Mike Schmidt and neuroplasticity as well say with defects to right out the story or triggers. What leads to what and one often fines one needs to focus on the triggers and write a different story.
 
00:16:18 David: Like a dog returning to vomit. Can't get that out of my head now
 
00:27:38 Wayne: Very timely as suicide is being offered as an option if one finds their suffering overwhelming.
 
00:29:07 David: In one of my darkest times and despair I realized I had belief but no faith
which is tied with hope. Now I just think what am I to learn from this situation and it will pass.
 
00:34:33 Anthony: There is a particularly horrible thought: curse God and die
 
00:35:00 Anthony: That cuts at rather suffering soul's very hope
 
00:48:47 Anthony: Father, remember cooking and baking are arts, to be done well...like the Cathdral of Monreale.  😉  but yeah, I get you. 😀
 
00:52:27 Maureen Cunningham: Christ dwell with in us when we gather we bring  the body of Christ together
 
00:52:48 David: I think it got worse after COVID few shake hands and it seems there is little small talk.
 
00:57:58 Anthony: I've studied heresies and heretics for years. I observe that along with with religious differences  - maybe preceding them - is a break in communion or a lack of peace: nationalism or personal trauma
 
01:10:51 Susanna Joy: My heart is still back at the dog and the priest...
 
01:10:57 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂
 
01:11:00 Andrew Adams: Great class tonight! Thank you, Father!
 
01:11:02 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You
 
01:11:46 Cindy Moran: Thank you Father...excellent session!
 
01:11:48 David: God Bless thank you Father David!
 
01:11:49 Art: Thank you
 
01:11:50 Jeff O.: Thank you!!
 
01:11:58 Sheila Applegate: Thanks Father!
 

All that we do is to be touched by the grace of God, shaped by it, and perfected by it. This includes our virtues, and also the manner in which we pray. 
Psalmody has always been apart of the prayer tradition of the church and in particular of the monastics. The psalms capture within them both the adversities and the joys that we experience in this world. It is the most important thing that we can do as human beings; to seek to God and offer a sacrifice of praise. 
Therefore, the monks are very careful to allow their prayer to be guided by God. We can be willful even in the fashion that we pray and sing. This is also true in the times that we set for prayer for ourselves. For example, the monks prayed many times a day together; emphasizing that they are part of the body of Christ. We do not pray as individuals, but always aware of the radical communion that exists not only with God but with one another. 
Thus, we find among the fathers an emphasis upon praying and singing while remaining conscious of what is going on within their hearts. We do not want to fall into distraction or lead others into it. Simplicity and humility should be the mark of worship; that which guides us in order that what we sing and pray is reflective of the reality within our hearts and our desire for God. Once again, we are presented with a kind of liturgical asceticism. Liturgy shapes the interior life and the interior life shapes the way that we pray.
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Text of chat during the group:
00:42:45 Lori Hatala: I have heard psalms chanted in different melodies. Is the melody of the chant relevant?
 
00:54:21 Tracey Fredman: Agreed, even if you do not have the time for a whole weekend at a monastery, even a visit while monks are at prayer can be life-altering.
 
00:55:06 Tracey Fredman: It can alter our prayer life, is what I mean.
 
00:55:41 Susanna Joy: Beautifully said...discipline is a silent "word" back to God
 
01:11:07 Wayne: If you have the opportunity to attend Matins or Vespers in the Eastern churches, the changing can have a very positive affect on you.
 
01:13:40 Andrew Adams: Thank you Father!
 
01:13:48 Edgard Riba: Thank you!
 
01:13:50 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙏🙂
 
01:13:56 Troy Amaro: Thank You Father.