Fr. Simeon of Essex: Always Remember that You are Loved by God
He is the One Who makes us saints, but He can’t make saints out of us if we aren’t truly in His hands. And so I’d say not to be afraid and to abandon yourselves completely in God’s hands!
In my monastery, about half of those who live there–monks and nuns–are your age. They are like my “ladybugs.” I’d like to tell you a few things the same way I tell them: be seekers of God, just as others are seekers of gold! Be seekers of God in order to attain peace of heart. Saint Seraphim of Sarov said: “Preserve peace in your heart and thousands of souls around you will be saved!” But we must understand that in order to attain peace of heart we have an entire road to go on. In a certain sense, peace of heart is the final point of this search.
The first stage (first step) requires living in humility. What is humility other than living truthfully before God? To be yourself with all your heart and soul before God. Maybe then we will discover that we are poor, that we are weak, that we are sinful. But let us not be afraid: wherever we may be, whichever path we may have taken, whatever the situation in which you find yourselves may be, however far from God it may be, you must always remember that you are loved by God! Whatever your situation may be! And on account of this love, you can abandon yourselves in God’s hands in whatever situation you find yourselves.
Abandoning yourself in God’s hands is the second step. It (this step) is indispensable, because if we don’t know how to abandon ourselves, what can God do? Because He is the One Who will make, Who makes us saints. But He can’t make saints out of us if we aren’t truly in His hands. And so I’d say not to be afraid and to abandon yourselves completely in God’s hands! Our God is a God full of mercy and love. Look at what Christ told us in the parable of the prodigal son, in the encounter with the Samaritan woman, and similarly with the sinful woman. Where do you see condemnation on the part of our God? There’s only a word of love. This word, which seeks to be born in our being today is the discovery of this word of love and mercy, which gives us true peace of heart. So let’s entreat all the saints who knew this path on earth, let’s ask them to intercede for us, before our God, so that we too can understand how important it is to abandon ourselves in God’s hands through humility. This is what I wish for you from the heart!
I’d like to end by thanking you for the quality of your prayer and chanting. Last night I was with the fathers at the Cathedral, it was very beautiful, we prayed very well, but today I was very blessed to hear you, and, although I don’t understand Romanian in a natural way, I believe that despite this fact I understood something: that you are truly children of God! Amen.
Father Rafail Noica’s commentary:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit”: “The poor in spirit”–I dare to interpret this as those who realize that they are poor in spirit (because all of us are impoverished), that is, humility!
And Father (Simeon said): what is humility other than to live truthfully? The first movement of humility is spiritual realism; a realism which is terrible! Because Father also says: don’t be afraid, God has enough love! And what happens? If we can bear even a little bit this terrible vision of what we are–because what does poverty of spirit mean? It means hell! - if we can see–but God hides this vision from us to a certain degree, because we can’t bear it, but if we bear some of it, what happens? We begin to weep before God, true repentance begins. Blessed are they who mourn, and so on.
Homily given by Fr. Simeon at the Cathedral in Alba Iulia, Romania in 1993 during a visit with Fr. Rafail Noica. Source:
Wonderful!