On the Preservation of the Spirit of Fervor Toward God

We must fulfill the commandments, and fulfill all of them; but we have no natural desire, zeal, or fervor for this. In repentance, on account of the contrite spirit and the vow to do God’s will, this fire of fervor is kindled in our spirit by divine grace; it alone is the power to fulfill the commandments and is alone capable of bearing all this burden. If fulfillment of the commandments is the foundation of salvation, then the spirit of fervor is our only saving power. Where it is, there is care, zeal, readiness, liveliness in deeds pleasing to God. Where it is not, everything stops and falls: there is no life of the spirit—it grows cold and dies. There let there be even the doing of good works—they will be good only in form, not in force and spirit. This is the fire that our Lord Jesus Christ came to kindle on earth and which is kindled by the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers, descended in the form of fiery tongues.

Of this spirit of fervor the Lord says: “I have come to bring fire” to the earth (Lk 12:49). The Apostle commands “do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thess 5:19) and bears witness of himself: “I press on toward the goal” (Phil 3:14). And in the holy fathers it is called variously: seeking, intention, zeal, striving, warmth of spirit, burning, and simply fervor.

Judging by this great importance and great significance of fervor, the first work of the Christian laborer must be the preservation of this fervor and zeal as the source power of a life pleasing to God. To preserve, consequently, means to use special types of methods and practices that contribute to this. What exactly are they? Fervor should be preserved by the same path by which it was born, and it was born by an inner change of heart under the invisible action of divine grace.

The inner, invisible ascent of our spirit to fervor began with grace-filled awakening and ended with the decisive vow to walk unfailingly in God’s will. In this ascent the strictest graduality was observed. A sinful man, living wholly without and therefore called external, is pressed within himself by the coming grace and here, as if awakened from sleep, beholds a completely new world, hitherto unknown to him. This is the first thrust, after which, with God’s help, through various thoughts and feelings, he gradually frees himself from the first world, enters into the other, and falls before the King of it and his Lord, offering him a solemn covenant to be his servant forever. Thus, whoever wishes to keep fervor unextinguished must: a) remain within, b) behold the new world, and c) stand in those thoughts and feelings through which he, as if by the steps of a ladder, ascended to the footstool of the Lord’s Throne.

This is what must be the unceasing practice, labor, and work of the Christian laborer!