These are all deeply spiritual and important reflections! If we all, I believe, just meditated on the above three posts, Lent would be a real spiritual Spring!
There is a restlessness in my life owing to the fact that I have relatives in Ukraine who are now refugees. I am in touch with them frequently and send them what I can. I have no idea what they are going through and can't imagine it. Intercessory prayer for them and all the victims of that senseless war of aggression is what informs my Lent. Being close to the Cross and to Christ on the Cross brings me peace, as does being near our Mother of Sorrows with the Seven Swords piercing her soul.
Meditation on the Wounds of Christ too is vital for us all. By His Stripes, we are healed.
And as was said, having a Confessor is great but, failing that, reading the wisdom of Elders past, including St Paisius Velichkovsky and the Desert Fathers can serve as our gudes.
Blessed New Hieromartyr Basil Velichkovsky, Redemptorist, who died and is enshrined in Winnipeg, Canada, was the direct descenndant of St Paisius, FYI.
Well, here's the thing Alex, My comments were in relation to the topic at hand. Namely, a fairly known Eastern Catholic priest renounced his Christianity in favor of Islam. That was the post. I did not explore its' far reaching symbolism as you have, and it is to your credit that you see a larger picture.
Of course we are all on spiritual journeys, lay persons and priests too. Those journeys take us down many paths, sometimes prompting our inner GPS to sound the alarm. However, my point was to address what we know of this particular situation. My present take on this particular situation is that it is neither typical, nor does it deserve to be elevated to a symbol of spiritual longing and quest.
Here's why......Our inner struggles, our deep questioning and thirst for meaning are deeply personal. They are between us, God, and if we are fortunate, a confessor. When they become media events, I begin to wonder. When they are self-orchestrated media events, the caution flag really goes up.
There is history of Social Media involved in this. For me, that taints any spiritual aspects.
Bold added by me for emphasis. This point here is certainly worth considering. Social Media is built (coded) from the ground up to be addictive, to cause conflict, strife, division, confusion, disillusionment, depression, and a constant restlessness (rotten fruit of the enemy). I speak this not only from reading and researching it, but because I have been burned by it myself. Nearly 2 years or perhaps more off of social media and I still go through moments of desolation because I miss the instant "you have likes and comments." That dopamine hit from self-validation of menial life events seems silly logically, but I still feel it sometimes. The way his announcement was announced, by him and on social media, is very concerning because he certainly knows that the weight of being a Priest of the Church saying these things could lead to a number of his flock following him to the path of the Sultan and the false prophet. Muslims tend to be very zealously and aggressively evangelical of their beliefs. Social media or not it was folly, but social media disregulates peace to such an extent that I could and am only commenting on his behaviors, but not with complete certainty of his intentions. The fact that he was Priest by practice but seemingly never in belief is also painful but, again, if that is true and not more of the social media trick to stir outrage...even among us. Keep in mind, "They will hate you because they first hated Me." Prayer is certainly the antidote because, despite insider knowledge of this man, that is what we can do and what will work. His final Abbot who "failed" him (he was already looking at God and the Church backwards through the lens of only "me") whom he called a sociopath. I am familiar with him and his Monastery, and have even had the blessing of having spiritual direction as a laymen from one of the Fathers at this Monastery...so again, quite painful. However, the pain is not just ours. He is clearly in distress so yes, pray.
I meet a person he is African American I think he said he was a former pastor now he is the iman at the mosque in Teaneck nj he tried to debate me inside The Teaneck nj library about why Islam was more correct I just walked away he was more in to debating then a discussion
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