On Gratitude and Good Thoughts
A discerning elder and guide said: "At one time an
ac¬quaintance of mine came to see me in a miserable state. He had built a
house in what had been a very quiet town. Soon afterwards some people opened
a garage next to his house. Then further down a highway was built. Next a
nightclub opened across the street. Soon the man could not sleep at all."
'"What can I do, Father?' he asked me. 'Am I supposed to build another
house? How can I? [He had five children.] It is not easy to build another
house. What should we do? There is no rest for us there now.' Such was the
problem for them that the whole family were on tranquillizers.
"'Listen, Blessed One,' I told him. 'You are not facing the problem
spiritually. Let us suppose that a war started there and I told you that if
you stay in this house, I would guar¬antee that nothing would happen to you:
if you wanted to go outside, no one would bother you, and not even one bomb
would fall on your house. What would you say to this? Probably that this
would be the greatest blessing un¬der the circumstances. And you would say
"What a blessing this is, my Lord! The whole world is being destroyed and I
am being guaranteed my life".'
'"Of course you would consider this a great blessing. Now have another
positive thought, this time about your current situation, and say "Thanks be
to God! At least there are no heavy armoured tanks going by here . . . we
see only some cars . . . not armoured convoys. Some people are going about
taking care of their business. There is no war! What a bless¬ing! Thanks be
to God!".'
"'Give thanks always. For if we do not think positively, and be peaceful
within, we should not fool ourselves that if we went to a quiet spot we
would then be at peace. Even there the temptations would gather like jackals
around to howl at night. In fact, actual jackals might gather. For we will
always have temptations. In the daytime, for example, if we have a tree in
our quiet spot, cicadas will gather. Then these temptations would mislead us
to use a stick to dis¬perse the insects or stones to disperse the jackals!'
'We should always face every situation with good thoughts!'
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An elder said, "Once I was on a bus. What a situation! Somebody asked the
driver to lower the radio. 'We have a priest among us,' he said (for they
had noticed me). The driver put the sound higher. I was saying the Jesus
Prayer. The person who had spoken wanted to help me, but I said 'It doesn't
bother me,' for I was thinking: if, God forbid, there were an accident and
they brought all the people out of the bus — one having a broken leg,
another an injured head, another crying, and perhaps even a little child
hurt-how could I endure such a sight? 'Thanks be to God,' I said to myself;
'everyone here is well and they can even sing!'
"Thus there noise became the foundation tone for my prayer. They behaved the
way they wanted, and I did just fine.
"There is no other way but to face all situations with a positive attitude,
and to try to put yourself in the other person's place. Instead so often we
try to have our own way, and the world becomes a madhouse.
"When a person puts himself in another's place, things fall in order. Take
for example an old woman and her daughter-in-law. The younger woman should
try to put herself in the elderly one's place and say to herself, 'How would
I want to be treated? When I am an old, drooling woman j would I want my
grandchildren making fun of me? And my daughter-in-law snapping at me? Would
I like that? So how should I behave toward my mother-in-law?'
"You should know also that if someone does not behave in a spiritual way,
then the spiritual laws will be in effect, You will have to pay for
everything. God will allow it, because of His love, for us to pay for
everything in this life."
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An ascetic would say: "Trust God and your elders. Be obedient when they ask
you to do this or that, and you will be at] rest. All this time that you
have trusted yourself, what have you gained? Self-confidence is a great
obstacle to divine grace. I "Do not trust your reasoning. Have simple
thoughts, and! God for your humility will protect you, and you will
experience His joy and peace. Our spiritual progress depends upon! us.
Unless we do things right, neither the great Antonios nor the great
Varsanouphrios can save us. God is obliged to
s when we totally trust in Him.
'Anyone who has good thoughts is spiritually healthy. "During the years of
the German occupation, small chil¬dren in the villages lived on cornbread
and their cheeks were rosy, for no matter what they ate, it turned to blood.
In contrast, with the children of rich people, even though they ate good
bread and butter with marmalade, still they were pale and sick. It is the
same with spiritual things. If we think simply and with purity, with no
evil, then we will be spiritu¬ally health."
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An elder said: "Let us build a factory of good thoughts. If a factory
produces bullets and we feed it with iron, it will make bullets. If the
factory makes chalices and we feed it with gold, it will produce gold
chalices. If we feed it with iron, it will make chalices of iron. Whatever
thoughts we put in our minds, that is what we will get. "
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An elder said: "Sorrows cleanse and polish a person. There is nothing
greater than that, even the Jesus Prayer is not greater. The late Father
Tychon used to say that 'The prayer "Lord Jesus have mercy on us" is worth
one hundred drach¬mas, but "Glory to God" is worth one thousand.' By this he
meant that glorifying God is more valuable than anything else, because in
the first instance, people often say the Jesus Prayer when needing
something; but when one glorifies God in the midst of suffering, it is an
ascesis."
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An Agioritan ascetic who unceasingly praised God would
say, We are all sinners. We should face our
sinfulness. We ought to think: what has God done for us? And what are we
doing for God? Thinking this way will break even a heart made of granite.
Just think: God could have made me a mule so that I would be loaded down
with 150 kilos of wood by someone with no consideration, and be hit on the
head by some villager. And I would finally end my days by falling in a
ditch, to be eaten by dogs, and passersby would hold their noses for the bad
odour that my carcass would give off.
Have I thanked God just for what I am? No, I have not thanked Him. He could
have made me a snake or a scor¬pion. But God in His love made me a man. He
sacrificed Himself for me. With only one drop of divine blood He cleansed
the whole human race.
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He also said,
A school teacher had five or six children. He was not quite fifty years old.
One of his daughters had something wrong with one of her eyes. They operated
and found a tumour and had to remove the eye. All the children at school
made fun of the poor little girl. How could this child be consoled, I
thought to myself. Since she was only twelve years old, she would be able to
understand only some things. But that child did know what consolation was
all about.
So I said to the teacher, her father, 'If these suffering souls face their
suffering with even one doxology, they will be joining with Paphnoutios, the
confessor of our faith whose eye was poked out for his love of Christ.' The
teacher un¬derstood this and was very happy. It was not just a false
consolation. It is a fact. He realized that it was not an injustice. God is
not unjust. One who does not accept this might say, 'What has this child
done to deserve a tumour in the eye? They operate and the child grows up
with a handi¬cap.'
But I believe — and it is impossible for me not to believe it — that on the
day of judgment this child, who has suffered for so long, will be rewarded
by God.
