We Need Repentance
Repentance is not only going to a priest and confessing. We must free ourselves from the obsession of thoughts. However, being that we fall many times during our life, and it is absolutely necessary to reveal everything (in Confession) before a priest who is a witness to our repentance.
Repentance is the renewal of life. This means we must free ourselves of all negative traits and turn toward absolute good. Keep in mind that no sin is unforgivable except the sin of unrepentance.
There Are Many Kinds of Tears
Some people cry out of rage, some to spite another person, others because they have been offended. Some cry because they lost a loved one. There are many kid of tears. There are also tears of repentance, when a person’s conscience tells him that he has committed many sins. When he realizes his sinfulness, he weeps. That is an act of God’s grace.- a soul repents, and the sin is washed away by tears. These are tears of repentance and they are a gift from God. When a person realizes his sinfulness, he gradually frees himself from the cares of this world and from his own egoism and leaves all of his cares to the Lord. His soul is humbled, and when this occurs, it is a state of Grace. Prayer requires a complete carefree life, for “even the slightest worry disrupts our prayer”, as the Holy Fathers say. Just as the slightest speck of dust can blur our vision, so, also, does the slightest worry interfere with our concentration in prayer. When we are united with the Lord, then our soul is at peace and Grace descend upon us.
A person who dwells in state of Grace is ready to weep for anyone. He weeps when he sees the suffering of an animal, a plant, a person… Such a person is always ready to shed tears for the whole world. That means that the Grace of God is in that person and that his tears are gift from God. Those are tears that save. They bring a soul to perfection. Perfection can not be reached by worrying about the things of this world. The Lord has said that we are not to burden ourselves with food and drink an with the cares of this world.
Get to Know God
Often we find that those who had never previously known God have much stronger faith than those who claim to have been devout all their lives. When a person who has not known God comes to his senses and begins to Pray t God, he knows what it (life) was like before and and he knows who helped him find the light at the end of the tunnel.
Who Sins?
All of us sin constantly. We slip and fall. In reality, we fall into traps set by the demos. Th holy fathers and the saints always tell us: ” It is important to get up immediately after a fall and to keep on walking toward God.” Even if we fall a hundred times a day, it does not matter; we must get up and go on walking toward God without looking back. What has happened has happened- it is in the past. Just keep on going, all while asking for help from God.
How to Know if Our Sins Are Forgiven
Remembering a sin we have committed does not mean that the sin has not been forgiven. This remembrance of our sins in only a warning to us lest we become proud and sin again. In fact, we (not God) are the ones who can not forgive ourselves. We can not forgive ourselves because of our pride. A genuine sign that a sin has been forgiven is the fact that it has not been repeated, and we are at peace. It is also important how we spend the last years of our lives. A God-pleasing life in old age blots out the sins of youth.
Analyze your Thoughts and Desires
We humans are always harvesting the fruit of our thoughts and desires. Fr. Thadeos always taught that if our thoughts and desires are wicked , we can not gather good fruit. The whole of mankind s harvesting the fruit of it thoughts and desires. The Lord said of His Second Coming, “Will I find faith?” (Luke 18:8). That is why we must strive to improve our character while we are still in this life- we will pass into eternity with this same character.
We have the chance to change for the better if we repent of all of our evil ways, but when a soul passes into eternity it does not have the capacity to pray for itself. Father Thadeos stated:” I did not know this , but once I had the opportunity to feel as though my soul were about to depart my body. I felt that I could no longer to pray for myself. A monk prayed for me, but I could not; my time for repentance has finished.”
We Reap What we Sow
In our countries and all over the world, people are reaping the fruits of our thoughts and wishes. Our desires are not good; neither are our thoughts. How then can the fruit of such thoughts and desires be good? We need to repent and change our way of life. Repentance is not just going to a priest and confessing; the soul must become free of all these thoughts and the melancholy that has overcome us due to our crooked paths. Repentance is a change of life, a change of direction, turning toward Absolute Good, and leaving behind all that is negative.
True repentance is rare, even among the pious, and this is why we suffer so much. If our people were to repent, they would not experience the suffering that they are going through now. We complicate our lives terribly by our thoughts and desires. Father Thadoes stated ” I did not know this before, but know I know that I am to blame for everything- for everything! Now I know why the Holy Fathers considered themselves to be worst among all man.
How to Pray
When we pray fr something from the depths of our heart, the Lord will grant it because He is our God and Father (Matthew 7:7-II).
We must strengthen ourselves in prayer and be of one thought and one mind in our country. If he succeed in this we will not have enemies. When we look at the history of Israel we see that their enemies triumphed over them each time they fell away from the Lord, but that the Lord always helped them whenever they repented sincerely. The Lord is always with us.