44. I heard of one person that when he came to one
of his friends and found the room in disarray and even dirty, he would say to
himself: "Blessed is this person, because having deferred his concerns for
earthly cares, he has concentrated his mind that much toward Heaven, that he
doesn’t even have time to tidy up his room." But when he came to another
friend’s place and found his room tidy and neat, he would say to himself;
"The soul of this person is as clean as his room, and the condition of the
room speaks of his soul." And he never judged another that he was
negligent or proud, but through his kind disposition, saw good
in everyone and received benefits from everyone. May the good Lord grant us the
same kind disposition, so that we too may receive benefits from everyone and so
that we never notice the failings of others.
44. The main thing to avoid when meeting people is
to be suspicious — from which comes adjudgment. I have many examples, which
prove that everyone judges others according to his spiritual circumstance. For
example, imagine that it was necessary for a person to stand by the roadside at
night, and walking past him were three people. On seeing him, one of the three
would think that he is waiting for an illicit rendezvous; another would imagine
him to be undoubtedly a thief — he looks suspicious; the third would think that
no doubt the person arranged to go to church with someone and was now waiting
for him. Thus, the three saw the same person, in the same place, but concluded
about him entirely differently. And this evidently, corresponds to their
spiritual situation. Just as a sick body converts any food it ingests — even
though it might be most nutritional — into harmful juices, so does a soul with
corrupted morals, receive harm from any matter that it has dealings with, even
from the very good. But the one who has good morals is like a person with a healthy
system, who even if he consumes something that is not completely healthy, will
still convert it into healthy juices. If we will have good morals and build
ourselves up correctly, so will we be able to receive spiritual benefits from
every matter.
44. To annoy, judge and spoil — whose works are
they other than the devil’s? And we appear as the
demons’ helpers — to our and our neighbor’s perdition. Why is it so? Because
there is no love within us! Because "love will cover
a multitude of sins" (1 Peter 4:8). The Saints don’t judge a
sinner and do not turn away from him, but commiserate with him, grieve for him,
enlighten, console, administer to him like a sick part of a body, and do
everything to save him.
45. There must be an endeavor to completely purge
the inner pus, so that the affected area would heal in such a way as to be free
of any remaining ugliness and it would be completely impossible to recognize it
as the area where the wound existed. How can you achieve this? By praying with all your heart for the offender, saying:
"Lord, help me and my brother for the sake of his prayers!"
Praying in this fashion for your neighbor, the person shows compassion and love
simultaneously. Asking help for yourself, for the sake
of his prayers, mollifies him. And where there is compassion, love and
humility, can there be irritation, rancor or any other type of passion? And
Abba Zosima said: "If the devil raises all the wiles of his hatred,
together with all his demons, they will all shatter and disappear against
humility — according to Christ’s commandments."
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