PARADISE NOW ARCHIVE

 

Featured Quote

 from Friday July 27/August 9 ns 2024

From Adam until Christ: 5508 years?

A disciple once asked an elder,

“From the time of Adam until Christ

have there been exactly 5508 years?"

There are plenty of difficult questions and mysteries in the Holy Bible (and in other spiritual works) that would be interesting to research. While this kind of study is not forbidden, the highest Christian endeavor has always focused on what is most important: our deification (Theosis) through God’s grace. This requires great labor in order to cleanse our sin-laden souls, thus purifying our spiritual intellect and vision. Only after this are we able to tackle such mysteries. 

READ THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH CAREFULLY

Moreover, if a humble person reaches, by God’s grace, a state of illumination, then Grace itself reveals the key to such mysteries to him, though he is unable to express in words what he is experiencing.

What cannot be uttered, can be revealed! (Pub.)

Groveling in Matter

Carnal man, spiritually blind and deaf, grovels in transitory matter (materialism, money property, attachments, etc.) and thereby remains a stranger to the Self that dwells within; the true Self, who is not only capable of moving mountains but inhaling galaxies and exhaling universes.

A most pertinent quote from our holy father Basil, wouldn't you say?

Can anyone know the hour when

he or she is called from this life?

We are in the realm of "time"

so lets make good use of it.

Consider:
The more time we spend, in obedience to Christ's Commandments, attending services and preparation for the reception of the Precious Body and Blood of our Creator, the more time we spend with Him in prayer, in reading the holy scriptures, in reading the lives and writings of the holy fathers and mothers, etc., a surprising thing happens.
Everyone knows the gifts and grace that come with  with obedience but there is something else: the distance we find ourselves away from our Lord by entertaining temptation, by attachments to and chasing after transitory things, become more and more apparent and as a result, if we love God, increases our desire to spend more "time" with Him.

A test: 

You may rise, say your morning prayers, eat breakfast and go to work. At some point, ask yourself, did you forget Christ, or, how often did you remember Him since your morning prayers? Having noted the possible number of hours, ask yourself if your God, Who is love, forgot you.  Did He keep you breathing? Did He keep your heart beating? Did He close access sight, sound, smell, touch or taste? Did He stop loving you?  After reflection on it, shamefully ask: How could I forget His love?  Practice this and soon, your time away will grow shorter, you will be smitten with longing until you never thirst again because His love and joy will then be felt ceaselessly.

About joy: 

Temporary, life can be pleasant, fun and joyful, but compared to what?  You may say compared to the opposites.  But, there is another joy - the inexpressible joy of Paradise and we know its opposite because we are experiencing it within "time". If you don't know it, then you haven't truly repented and felt the joy that God gives when He forgives. Because when it is given, the closest description we carnal people can comprehend is that it is like water from which we never thirst again, because it takes us into the realm infinitely beyond ecstasy - a realm that cannot be spoken of but can be given.

LOVE

Experienced but Undefined

Anyone who has fallen in love knows that once it happens, it needs no reminding, no prompting, no reasoning, no examination because it is unfathomably simple and constantly experienced/treasured and, without any doubt, inexplicable by anyone. You wake in it, you sleep in it, it never wavers. And in many cases, it is mutual.

Such it is with Christ. However, when we seek with all our heart to love Him, the mutual nature of love invites the ecstasy of worship.

T H E

P A R A G O N

What is the Paragon?  It is a Signpost

As a signpost, what direction does it give?  "This way to the Kingdom of Heaven".

How does one navigate the way?  Read the Paragon and find out.  Until then, navigation is through the Epistles, Prophecies and Gospels taken from the Holy Bible. It provides accounts of the lives and deeds of those, who through their renunciation of this temporal life for Christ, by breath or by blood, come to "know" the Father, who is revealed only by the Christ, and in turn become one with Him (Theosis).

I often don't understand the readings!  If you believe God, then you know He is omniscient and you therefore trust Him.  He knew we would disfigure His image in us before He created us, hence He instructs the soul directly according to its needs required for salvation. And when the soul responds with genuine love and sincere desire for healing, it is enlightened and brought out of the darkness of a disfigured mind.  Reflect, contemplate and pray to know more clearly who you are so when He makes the command:  "Physician, heal thyself", you can respond. After all, isn't the conscience the small Christ within us, directing our hearts?

Does the Paragon provide anything else?  Yes, encouragement to trust that one can transcend from "belief" to "knowing" {Theosis}. Again, if one forsakes all loves for the one love which is God, denies his or her very self, takes up the Cross and follows, Christ may be pleased to reveal the Father, Who is Everlasting Life.

Be Still

and Know that I am God

A cashier, puzzled by Atheism and the existence of God,

says to an Orthodox priest who is at the register:

I don't really believe in God but may I ask you a question? 

Priest: Certainly! responds the priest.

Why does God speak to you only ?

Priest: God speaks to everyone!

Aha! says the cashier!  Then why can't I hear him?

Priest: If you cannot hear Him it's because you have

3 voices in your head. Two are loud but our Lord's voice is like Him,

meek and lowly. 

St. Matthew 11:29 KJV Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me;

for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest

unto your souls.  

So listen to the psalmist that you may hear and obey Christ.

"Be still and know that I am God" Psalm 46:10

Ha! And what are the other two?

Your self-centered voice and Satan's tempting you relentlessly.

Two Questions

Beloved of God, why is the second of commandments so great? And, what words can describe the experience of having love for all? The answer is simple and answers both questions.

Saint Matthew 22:37-40 KJV
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

The response is simple and answers both questions. You may read it but to hear it, you must pray.
Answer: Because it is like the first.

BE CAREFUL WITH THE TONGUE

Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth;
and a door of enclosure round about my lips.

Saint Luke 6:44-46 KJV

44 For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.

45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

DUMB ANIMALS?
LET ME THINK ABOUT IT.

We should be ashamed to call them dumb animals.

Yes, the carnivores kill and eat but they don't make war.

All of creation fell along with man but not as far.

Isn't it obvious that they, even those who migrate across the entire planet,

like the stars and planets, are in order and show no chaos? 

Again, we should be ashamed to call them dumb animals.

They teach, protect and instruct their offspring all without speaking a word. 
Men, on the other hand, produce a tsunami of words, laws,
rules, orders, etc. none of which offer a reliable viable solution for the continued

disarray, mayhem and  madness, relentlessly abusing and

killing each other since Cain killed Abel.

Man should be ashamed!

signed Bob the Bab