Attachement

Did you ever experience having a request from God; a request that is holy and pure, a request that many holy people from the Bible had and also many saints, YET, God didn't grant it to you? As if He is not listening or ignoring you? Hannah also did.

In the liturgy yesterday (Wed of 5th week of Great Lent) one of the prophecies was from first chapter from the book of 1st Samuel. Hannah was asking God to have a child from her husband, a pure and holy request. God did command Adam and Eve to be fruitful. But as we read the story, it says about Hannah: "but the Lord shut her womb" (1Sam 1:5). And she wasn't a wicked person, nor her husband. At the contrary, they were godly people. How come that God responds oppositely to her request? What is going on?

We many times when asking for something holy and pure, we think that we should be granted what we asked, because it is holy and pure (a virtue, healing or improvement for a person dear to us, peace, success, etc.). We therefore want it so much and keep asking God to grant it to us. We may even start planning based on what we asked for. We often slip and get attached to what we ask for, that we desire it so much. When this happens, we no longer pray to talk to God whom we love, we no longer seek God Himself, but we are using God as "the magician who can achieve our desires". As if God is the jenny of Aladdin's lamp. Well, that is NOT the case.

When it is the case that we are so attached to the thing we ask for, and in that sense we are driven away from God, as Hannah was so attached to become a mother, God responds saying: "what have I to do with you? mine hour is not yet come" (John 2:4), just as He shut the womb of Hannah.

When God says His time is not yet come, we start wondering "How long, O Lord, do You forget me, for ever? How long do You turn Your face away from me? How long do I put these counsels in my soul, and these sorrows in my heart for the whole day? How long does my enemy exalt over me?" (Psalm 12:1,2). Only then, our attention, and hence our attachment, gradually shift from what we ask for to God and His hour. Only then, we pour our hearts truly in front of God, with tears and confessions, as Hannah did at the House of the Lord [1Sam 1:9].

When Hannah poured herself in front of God, she was freed from the attachment of her desire to be have a baby, as can be seen from her vow to give the baby to God all the days of the child's life. When that happens, the Lord responses saying: "Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me" (Song 6:5)

Only then, Hannah was granted Samuel, the kings anointer. And after Hannah gave Samuel to God, as she vowed, "the LORD visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bare three sons and two daughters" (1Sam 2:21)

Way much more than what we originally asked for, only after our attachment was adjusted.

Mental Disability

This is an abridged correspondence between my weakness and Fr. Gregory regarding the salvation of mentally disabled people. The discussion is still open, please feel free to join us, we appreciate your comments.

remember my weakness in your prayers.

On Fri Jan 14th, Shenoda wrote:

Aghaby Fr. Gregory,

I recently found myself facing this question: Salvation is by believing in Jesus Christ. Where does believe or faith rests in me, my heart, my brain, my thoughts, my spirit, my soul, or... ? Wherever, I *choose* to believe and hence I am saved. Right?

Then, what about mentally disabled people, especially those born in another religion, say Islam? How could they be saved?

...I wonder if the church has an opinion though.

remember my sinfulness in your prayers.

+ + +

On Tue Jan 18th, Fr. Gregory replied:

The Lord bless you!

Shenoda,

You raise very good questions for which I'm not sure there are satisfying answers! But let me try and see if I can at least bring some light to bear on your concerns.

(1) The fathers talk about the nous--sometimes translated as "mind" but really closer to "heart" in the spiritual rather than physiological sense. Nous is the deepest part of the person where God dwells and speaks to him

(2) True obedience to God, and so salvation, is therefore not external to the person but internal. I am obedient from the deepest part of myself. Unfortunately because of sin I often live not from the deepest part of myself but only on the surface--and often not even there but pushed and pulled by forces external to myself. This is what asceticism--prayer, fasting, almsgiving but also confession and the sacraments--is so important. Through ascetical struggle I return to myself, I learn to dwell in the stillness of my own heart and, once there, I learn to hear the voice of God.

(3) This is true not simply for those of us who are Christians but all human beings. God dwells in the deepest place of each person's heart--speaking quietly, gently inviting, wooing really, the person to return to himself. If this journey is hard for the Christian, it is all the harder for those who do not know Christ and who suffer from wrong beliefs about God, the creation and themselves.

While not discounting the intellect or the visible works of the ascetical life, the real work of salvation is internal. People with mental or physical disabilities may not be able to express what they are experiencing in the depths of their hearts (even to themselves) but this doesn't mean that God is not active in them.

Unfortunately, we have become evermore accustomed to thinking even about faith in merely empirical terms. We forget that not everything which we know, we know from the senses. The work of grace in the human heart falls into the category of things we know but not through the senses. Rather what we know by faith we know from within ourselves--and to the degree that we have learned to dwell in our own hearts we are able to recognize God's work in the hearts of others.

Finally, whenever we look at another human being, or even ourselves, we should never despair for their (or our own) salvation. Rather than looking at all the reasons why someone is far from Christ, we should look at God' superabundant love for each and every human being. So the answer to your questions is this--don't discount science or the senses. But don't value these more than the love of God and His desire to draw all men to Himself.

In Christ,

+FrG

+ + +

On Mon Jan 24th, Shenoda followed up:

...

(1) Does that mean that the definition of the nous is different in theology (or spirituality) than it is in psychology? That should never be the case, right?
But at any rate, I guess I get the idea. Like, while thoughts dwell in the mind (physically, the brain's electricity), feelings are always referred to being dwelling in the heart. Of course it is not the physical organ, so, I guess this is the nous? Or may be nous is yet another "place" where God dwells?

...

(2) makes sense (that obedience is not external to me). However, when does my will play a role? Where does my will dwells also? And how is it related to thoughts and the mind? And, hence, where and what is the will of the mentally disabled people?
And yet, where and when does faith come to the picture? If God is speaking in my nous, and I need to "answer" back negatively or positively, what part of me that responds?

...

(3) This statement [People with mental or physical disabilities may not be able to express what they are experiencing in the depths of their hearts (even to themselves) but this doesn't mean that God is not active in them.] helped me a lot. Indeed as I recall the mentally disabled people that I ran by, like cashier or such, I always feel pity and sour, but I also feel and see as if they are not really disabled, but just that we can not understand them, and hence that they are alone and lonely (and that is where pity mostly comes from)... I recall many times I imagined myself getting married to a mentally or physically disabled person, just because I see the beauty of human creature, beyond the physical attractiveness (that was a while ago though). So, I kind of see what you are referring to that God is active in them, and that they are not able to express themselves.

+ + +

On Wed Jan 26th, Fr. Gregory responded:

(1) Psychology, as an empirical science, is not concerned with the nous as such but only with those aspects of human life that lend themselves to quantitative analysis. The nous is both a pre- and trans-scientific of talking about human behavior.

As pre-scientific, the nous helps remind us that there is something enduring in the ebb and flow of human behavior and the various shifts we see in personality over time and in different situations. Think the nous as the "integrating center" of the person.

As a trans-scientific concept, the nous helps us organize and evaluate the different aspects of human behavior that the psychologist studies. To use your example,the relationship between brain activity and thought is not causal but correlative. Yes, when I am angry a certain part of my brain lights up under an MRi--but that physiological is not anger. Nor can it be associated with anger without the intervention of a human person who tells me, "Now I'm feeling angry" while the MRI highlights brain activity.

Understanding the nous also helps us understand, as I said above, the relative human weight of behavior and emotions. What I mean by this is that while as a psychologist (or personally) I might be prone think that anger is the most important thing in the life of a person. Thinking about anger in terms of the nous, I realize however that while anger is real it is secondary, derivative really, and that is love which is most basic to the human person. And anger? It is a distortion of love.

Again, the nous as a construct is both its pre- and trans-scientific and it helps us keep in balance the often conflicting empirical data of psychology

(2) Terms like "will" and "nous" while they are often helpful in analysis of human behavior in a general sense, are less helpful when dealing with concrete questions such as the ones you ask here. My will as such doesn't dwell anywhere; the will isn't like my liver for example. Rather "will" like "nous" is a way of trying to express the mysterious relationship between God and the human person.

I hear God, and I call that hearing the nous; I respond (or not) to God and I call that responding the will. When we talk about a "darkened" nous or a "corrupted" will these are not physical realities bit spiritual that we stumble to express with physical imagery.

This is what makes the relationship between contemporary psychology and the mystical tradition of the Church such an interesting area of study. Both psychology and the fathers are trying to understand what it means to be human.

While both are concerned with the human person and do so with intellectual rigor, they approach their study with different methodologies and analogies. In the main, psychology tends to think of the human person mechanistically--as if we were machines or computers--while the fathers think of the person organically. The former expresses its findings empirically--borrowing heavily from physics--the latter express their findings poetically, borrowing from the Scriptures and ancient literature. Again, this doesn't mean that they are necessarily opposed to each other. It does however mean we need to sort through the differences and similarities with great care.

As for a book, let me suggest Christopher Jamison's Finding Happiness. A Catholic monk, Fr Christopher shows a keen understanding of the Church fathers, especially St John Cassian, and I think will help you think about some of what we've discussed here.

In Christ,

+FrG

Japan's 2011 Tsunami, and my sin

The Tsunami that hit Japan couple of days ago was just a terrifying catastrophe. Many people thought of the great flood in days of Noah, as they saw the waves wiping away a whole city! I personally thought of Sodom and Gomorrah when I saw them. God demolished Sodom and Gomorrah because of their sins. Does that mean that Japan is a sinful country?

"Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem;
See now and know;
And seek in her open places
If you can find a man,
If there is anyone who executes judgment,
Who seeks the truth,
And I will pardon her." (Jeremiah 5:1)

"And He (God) said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.” " (Genesis 18:32)

God is welling to pardon the whole city if He found a single person who executes judgment. When Abraham interceded for Sodom and Gomorrah [Genesis 18:23,-33], God answer was clear: He won't destroy an evil city if there are 5 righteous people in it. That is the negative aspect. The positive aspect is that God also blesses the city for the sake of the righteous. We saw how God blessed the house of Potiphar because of Joseph, and saved Egypt and the whole world, because of Joseph.

The early church fathers teaches us that when we attain the Love of God, that is when we truly love God above anything and anyone else, we are filled with love towards all human kind, and towards the whole creature! St. Isaac the Syrian says: "What is a merciful heart? It is a heart on fire for the whole of creation, for humanity, for the birds, for the animals, for demons, and for all that exists." and also says: "and by such great compassion, the heart is humbled and one cannot bear to hear or to see any injury or slight sorrow in any in creation.".

While Jeremiah, Mordecai, and Nehemiah were Godly people, but when they saw, or heard, the tribulation on its way against their people, as a punishment for their sins, these Godly men considered the people's sins their sins. We that too with many other men of God, prophets and saints, such as Jeremiah, Ezra, Nehemiah, Abba Karas, Abba Poula the first Hermit, etc. Nehemiah, for instance, prayed: "...I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father’s house and I have sinned." (Nehemiah 1:6) But indeed, there is no one without a sin. These Godly men might not participated in the general sin of the people, for which they are punished, but they have their own personal sins. We all do. However, as members, or rather organs, of the big family of human race, if one member is sick, the whole body is said to be sick. If one organ sins, we all sinned.

Similarly, when I see the world in affliction I realize how evil my sin is, causing these afflictions to the world. I know also that confession and repentance, of my own sins, and the whole family of human race, is the proper response I shall offer. The dessert fathers says about monks being the defenders, or intercessors of the whole wold, through their continuous repentance and prayers offered on behalf of the whole world. A monk, iconizes the human race how we are compelled to be.

The Kind Heart

Greetings to you who loves a lot,
Who took few and gave a lot

To draw a smile on a child’s face,
To make someone happy, you save no effort

You opened your heart to everyone,
They are countless; the people you host

You made your chest a home for homeless,
A nest for broken wings birds, and whoever gets lost

You offered your love to be,
A refugee to who feels lost

You make everyone around you happy,
And hide your pain and suffer a lot

You hide behind the scenes,
And help everybody whether they see you or not

You pour your tears to satiate the thirst,
And wash the feet of whose road is hot

But when your heart cries alone,
No one sees, as if you are not under the spot

For you are there, like air everywhere,
And no one appreciate it, unless it is lost

Written on June, 2006

You, whom my heart loved!

You whom my heart loved, and used to love her accompany!

And used to think it is impossible, for seconds, from you be away!

You to whom I always inclined!

You to whom I always said:

I adore you! I worship you! You are my whole life!

I dispensed you! I adore someone else!

regretting your companionship!

no room in my heart..

for you to live , for you to live, oh my sin!

Here Jesus owned and attracted me! He is the One who truly loves me!

And the end of His love is not Woe! Nor a misery that destructs me!

And if once my heart longed for you! I will go away, depart and neglect you!

Until one day I shall kill you!

For other than Jesus, I shall not kneel down.

I dispensed you! I adore someone else!

regretting your companionship!

no room in my heart..

for you to live , for you to live, oh my sin!

This is the translation of the below Spiritual Song, enjoy reading while listening to the touchy music.