What a beautiful group! Beauty, however, is not only found in the things that are attractive or appeal to our sensibilities. What is beautiful is found in the truth – the truth that speaks to the depths of our hearts and our religiosity. Once again, the fathers speak to us and present to us the gospel in unvarnished fashion. 

What is the disposition that we are to have in our service of God and others? If we give ourselves over to task with obedience, then we can be assured that God will provide all the grace that is necessary. If we do these tasks poorly, if we make mistakes, these do not diminish the value of our work. What gives shape to the work is the love and the humility of Christ. 

There are so many things that rush to our minds as to why we cannot bear something or why we cannot do a certain work. However, the fathers show us that so often such things are excuses; that is, plausible lies. They are reasonable because they are rooted in the reality of our own weaknesses. They are lies because they do not take into account the grace and the mercy of God. So often when we take up a task we engage in the labor abstracted from Christ. However, if we simply offer that labor to Christ, if we take it up by his grace and for his glory, then it has more value than we could ever imagine.

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Text of chat during the group:

00:03:54 FrDavid Abernethy: page 7800:04:01 FrDavid Abernethy: New Hypothesis Tonight00:06:45 Arthur Danzi: Hi Fr David00:07:01 Arthur Danzi: I’m fine, how are you?00:07:06 Arthur Danzi: My internet connection is poor…00:29:12 Rachel: yes00:40:27 sharonfisher: Thank you for the comment that even the monks struggle. My priest, after 2.5 or 3 years, revealed that he, too, sometimes struggles to keep the prayer rule. It was helpful to me to hear that.00:54:21 Rachel: This is a magnificent passage. It needs to be read very slowly. Finding humility, doorkeeper, etc. This is so rich and multilayered. One can only understand through experience I am sure.00:55:08 Rachel: No,but I think it needs to be unpacked00:55:17 sharonfisher: 😂00:55:29 Tracey Fredman: Experiential understanding is really hard to go through, though. This discussion is really helpful to me this evening.00:55:49 Rachel: There is more to it..when one finds humility, one finds Christ, but what happens when we become the doorkeeper, or christ becomes the doorkeeper of our heart?00:58:16 Rachel: He speaks about finding salvation by finding humility. Either way, we learn by experience whether we want to or not. But we may not experience what Our Lord desires that we experience. We may go kicking and screaming instead of finding the humility that the desert fathers speak of. He desire that we experience Himself00:58:21 Liz D: It is consoling that you have shared this Father, about persecition with the Church, thank you. It can difficult to trust people in the Church when one experienced being persecured from within the Church. Also, to remember to go to Christ first-because sometimes I realize I go to God last for some areas of my life. As if in some things I subconsciously believe I am expected (by God) to go it alone--only turning to Jesus for help when things become nearly unbearable00:58:39 sharonfisher: Reacted to "He speaks about find..." with ❤️00:59:56 sharonfisher: Reacted to "It is consoling that..." with ❤️01:00:06 Keith Abraham: Reacted to "It is consoling that…" with ❤️01:00:56 Rachel: Oh we can trust them alright! trust them to be very human like ourselves lol01:01:31 Lisa Smith: My favorite verse is where Christ speaks of faith as a grain of mustard seed.01:01:56 Rachel: I'm too melancholic for my own good, sorry i will be quiet again.01:02:13 Rachel: lol01:04:11 Lisa Smith: lol Amen on the doorkeeper, Fr01:04:23 Adam Paige: Saint Brother André was a porter01:05:11 Lisa Smith: not for the socially anxious.01:07:23 Steve Yu: I love the parable of the mustard seed because Jesus starts by comparing the Kingdom to someone who plants such a seed in a garden. The problem with that is someone would have to be crazy to do that. They grow enormous and quite ugly in my opinion. It would ruin a garden.  Isn’t that reflective of the spiritual life? We search for the beautiful garden not realizing that the ugly or inconvenient event may have Christ hidden within. I *think* this is attributable to humility. Christ has us see Him where we least expect Him.01:09:07 Andrew Adams: Reacted to "I love the parable o..." with ❤️01:12:48 Keith Abraham: “Domesticating” Christianity is one of the worst things we can do.01:12:49 Steve Yu: That went by fast01:12:56 Rebecca Thérèse: thank you🙂01:13:37 Andrew Adams: Thank you Father!01:13:42 sharonfisher: And with your spirit!!01:13:43 Dave Warner (AL): Thank you01:13:49 Troy Amaro: Thank You