Thursday, February 23 : Seraphim of Sarov

      [Saint Seraphim and Motovilov were plunged into a dazzling light and an extraordinary sweetness. Seraphim said to him,] My friend, the grace of God is meant to dwell within us, in our heart, because the Lord said, “The Kingdom of God is within you” (Lk. 17:21). By the Kingdom of God the Lord meant the grace of the Holy Spirit. This Kingdom of God is within us now, and the grace of the Holy Spirit shines upon us and warms us from without as well. It fills the surrounding air with many fragrant odours, sweetens our senses with heavenly delight and floods our hearts with unutterable joy. Our present state is that of which the apostle Paul speaks when he says, “The Kingdom of God is not a question of food and drink, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17)… See, my son, what unspeakable joy the Lord God has now granted us! This is what it means to be “in the fullness of the Holy Spirit”… With this fullness of his Holy Spirit the Lord has now filled us poor creatures to overflowing. So there is no need now, dear friend, to ask how people come to be in the grace of the Holy Spirit…       The fact that I am a monk and you are a layman is utterly beside the point. What God requires is true faith in himself and his only begotten Son. In return for that the grace of the Holy Spirit is granted abundantly from on high. The Lord seeks a heart filled to overflowing with love for God and our neighbour; this is the throne on which he loves to sit and on which he appears in the fullness of his heavenly glory. “Son, give me your heart,’ he says, ‘and all the rest I myself will add to you” (Prov. 23:26; Matt. 6:33), for the Kingdom of God can be contained in the human heart. The Lord commanded his disciples, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.”

maronite readings – rosary,team