Do Not Be Afraid! What Must We Do to Attain Grace, or With What Can the Kingdom of God Be Compared?

I remind you of one consoling Gospel narrative. The Lord approaches Jericho. There, by the way, sat a blind man. Hearing that the Lord was near, he began to cry out: “«Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!»” (Lk. 18:38)

Others wanted to silence him, but he cried out irrepressibly from his strong faith: “«Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!»” The Lord heard his cry and healed him.

Let us bless the Lord who heard the blind man’s cry, and let us also praise the blind man who did not cease calling out to Him for help. Thus we have, brothers, a pattern of our salvation, a pattern of how a soul is delivered from spiritual blindness, from the darkness of sin, and from all the bonds of world-loving and passion that bind it. The soul seeks and cries out, but as long as the Lord does not come to its aid, its eyes will not be opened and its bonds will not fall. “Without Me,” says the Lord, “you can do nothing»” (Jn. 15:5) The Christian can do all, but only “«through Him who strengthens” him» (Phil. 4:13), for grace, coming to him, accomplishes in him “«both the will and the doing according to His good pleasure»” (Phil. 2:13)

Do not be afraid when you hear that spiritual enlightenment and freedom from the bonds of the world and sin, or in other words, complete turning of the heart to the Lord, is the work of grace, thinking that it is somehow far away… On the contrary, rejoice in this, for what is from the Lord is near, just as the Lord Himself is the God who is near to all, not far away. From the Lord all is always ready for us; we need only apply what depends on us.

From us is expected fervent desire, seeking, and self-compulsion toward detachment from all and turning to the Lord. But let no one think that when all this is present in him, all that is sought has been attained. No; but when all this is present, grace must come and accomplish the detachment and turning by deed. The prisoner earnestly desires freedom, seeks it, and makes an effort to obtain it… But he remains in bonds as long as the one who has authority to loose does not come and does not loose him. The same is with us… The enemy has bound us with strong bonds through the passions and the world. When we come to realize this bondage and feel its unbearableness and destructiveness, we begin to desire freedom, seek it, and exert ourselves to obtain it; but despite all this, we remain in these bonds until the Lord comes, “«mighty»”, and binds, as He Himself said, the one who holds us in bonds, does not loose us, and does not set us free (Lk. 11:21-22). Here is a tree planted firmly in the soil with many deep roots. If it desired freedom, it could not obtain it otherwise than when a strong hand, drawing near, would tear it from the depths of the earth. Deep and many-branched have we become rooted in the world and its customs… Perhaps we have already felt the burden and destructiveness of this, but we cannot tear ourselves out until God Himself tears us out, until God, coming, delivers us from the power of darkness and brings us “«into the Kingdom of His beloved Son»” (Col. 1:13)

Someone will say: «What precisely must I do to attain such grace?» Do you desire to be loosed from the world and to be with Christ alone—first of all apply to this desire all sincerity and strength, as far as it depends on you, and at the same time begin to seek grace, sparing yourself nothing. Where to seek? In all that which God was pleased to conceal grace for us, as in vessels of some kind… This is in the whole institution of our Holy Church and all its orders, and above all in the holy Mysteries—confession and holy communion. For this, go to the Church of God whenever you have the possibility, pray earnestly at home, read holy books, engage in spiritual conversations whenever you can, undertake some ascetical labor—in fasting, vigil, solitude, in labors of helping your neighbor, don’t scatter yourself, don’t be vain, don’t seek empty glory and the applause of men; withdraw into yourself and approach the Lord in your heart; and above all make a proper fast, confess as you should, and receive the Holy Mysteries of Christ. Thus seek, and you will find, as the Lord has promised. Thus knock, and it will be opened to you! (Matt. 7:7) All is from the Lord; but receive it all only those who earnestly and without sparing themselves, seek… Let it be difficult; but it is consoling that they will certainly find… Grace will come at last, and then the soul, like a bird freed from snares, will freely begin to soar in the realm of the Kingdom of Christ.

Only do not be lazy in seeking, and seek precisely where you can find—that is, in the Church and in Church institutions. Those do badly who seek the Lord, as it were, while being alien from the Holy Church of God and all that is Church, or who hold to it only in part, as if by chance, without trust in the essential necessity of this order of life. No, you will not find the Lord and His grace outside the Church. Outside the Church is the world, the kingdom of the enemy of Christ and of us… There one finds destruction, not saving grace… The Church of God, wholly and in all its parts filled with grace, is a vessel or a collection of vessels of grace.

Have you heard of a substance called electricity? When it is aroused in something or fills a thing, then that thing becomes a vessel of electricity, and whoever touches it, from it a spark comes and makes a sensitive blow on the finger or on that part with which you touch it. Imagine if someone constructed a whole house full of this substance and then filled every thing in the house with it, so that whoever entered and touched anything, from everything would receive a spark and a blow—thus God has arranged the Church: He has filled it wholly and filled all in it with grace, so that those who seek through everything Church-related can receive it. One word converts, another—singing, one icon moves, another—the sacred service… one is moved by something great, another by something small; but in all cases the action is one: like a blow of some kind, it strikes the heart, and from that moment it becomes different, receives as it were a pledge or earnest, by virtue of which, having detached itself from the world, it begins to live in the Lord alone. Thus, if you desire to be freed from the world and to be with Christ alone—sincerely desire this and, sparing yourself not, begin to seek, going through all the orders and institutions of the Holy Church, under these clouds, as it were, that hold the waters of grace, and you will find. The minute will come when God opens your eyes, as it were takes you by the hand from the power of darkness, and brings you “«into the Kingdom of His beloved Son»”

Whether your seeking will be long or short is not our matter to determine. There is an eye that watches your labor and waits with impatience for you to finally enter into that state in which grace can act fully upon you. Wait and endure patiently in your labors of seeking. As in outward nature—let us use the same comparison—electricity mentioned above does not act upon every body, but only upon those predisposed for it, so also in the spiritual world, until the necessary dispositions are formed in our spirit for receiving grace, grace is not poured out into it, lest it be poured out uselessly. The chief obstacle, as I have already reminded you, is our insincerity toward the truth we have perceived. We know that the world is incompatible with Christ, yet when we intend to enter upon the path of following Christ or have already entered upon it, we regret some things and attachments and drag them along with us, as if in defiance of the unbreakable determination of the Lord that one cannot “«serve God and mammon»” (Matt. 6:24) The Lord sees our heart now in world-loving, now in love of God—that is, half-worldly and half-Christian—and does not entrust Himself and His grace to it, just as the master, having eyes, will not pour water or anything else into a cracked vessel. No, one must completely detach the heart from the world and be alien to it, although sometimes necessity forces external participation in its affairs. This turning away is what the Lord waits for, and

He Himself hastens to accomplish it in us through the influence of His Divine regard upon the heart, so that then He might fill us with Himself. But He will not accomplish it without us. We ourselves must desire aversion and turning away from the world and must compel ourselves to this.

The Kingdom of God can be compared with this!

Imagine a broad valley full of diverse vegetation. In the middle—a beautiful house in which dwells a prince of beauty, wisdom, power, and inestimable riches… From the house rays extend outward like paths, which the farther they go from the house, the more they become interwoven and intertwined with one another. Despite this intertwining, however, all of them can lead to the house—that is, they do not represent lost paths. But at the far reaches of the valley, paths begin to appear that intermingle with paths foreign to these, leading not to the house but in the opposite direction, beyond the bounds of this blessed royal valley. Along all the paths walks a multitude of people. They all go toward the prince, who promises to those who reach him eternal rejoicing with him in his house, dwelling, and pleasures beyond number. The prince sees all who go and all the labors that each undertakes in this journey. But only those who enter upon the paths not mingled with foreign ones begin to see and feel him… and the farther they advance toward the house, the more clearly they see the prince; and at last his face so becomes impressed upon them that they wholly disappear in him, in a sense dissolve through consciousness, forgetting themselves, for he is all sweetness. Those, however, who walk upon the mixed paths know that the prince exists, but do not see him, desire him but do not taste him, seek him but do not possess him. To them, rather, reach the loud celebrations from the kingdom hostile to the prince, and occupy them, and they walk, now stepping onto the prince’s path, now onto the enemy’s, and incline now toward the prince’s house, now in the opposite direction. Of these, some, having wandered about here a while, completely stray into the enemy’s realm; others, little by little advancing, step onto the unmixed paths and turn toward the prince’s house; a third group did not wish to go to the enemy, nor hastened to the house, but have seemingly resolved to wander here to the end of life, considering themselves the prince’s and not belonging to him by their deeds. Those who, passing by the mixed paths, step onto the unmixed ones, for the first time encounter the bright eyes of the prince, from which there is poured into their heart an insatiable fire of zeal for swift journeying. Here the bewitching effect of the enemy’s calls ceases…

I do not find it necessary to explain this comparison at length; it should be clear to you. Blessed are those who have crossed the mixed paths! These are those completely detached from the world. Wretched are those who have gone to the opposing side! These are those wholly given over to the world and the enemy. Those walking the mixed paths may be blessed or wretched.

Those wandering on these paths are those who have not yet completely detached from the world and remain here either because they are passing through a period of detachment, which requires time and does not occur suddenly in everyone, or because through deceptive self-pity they do not wish to completely part with the world, but think to somehow enjoy both the world and the portion of Christ. The latter are awaiting the wretched fate of those whom the Lord threatens with judgment: “neither hot” nor cold» (Rev. 3:15). But to the first it should be said: why delay, chasing after phantoms? Enter more boldly into the paths of detachment. The prince already sees you and desires you. Leave these mixed paths—enter the unmixed ones. There your eyes will meet the eyes of the prince… From them fire will descend into your heart and inflame it with all-sufficient love and zeal for journeying to his house, knowing no rest and no weariness…

And thus we come again to what we came to before—that one must completely detach oneself from the world and all that is worldly, so as to be with Christ.

Begin therefore, brothers, “«thus to run, that you may take hold»” (1 Cor. 9:24). May the Lord bless your beginning and prosper you in your labors, whatever you are able to do!

Amen.