When men search for God with their bodily eyes they find Him nowhere, for He is invisible. But for those who ponder in the Spirit He is present everywhere. He is in all, yet beyond all.
Symeon The New TheologianRead
Through repentance the filth of our foul actions is washed away. After this, we participate in the Holy Spirit, not automatically, but according to the faith, humility and inner disposition of the repentance in which our soul is engaged. For this reason it is good to repent each day as the act of repentance is unending.
Interpretation
Repentance cleanses us from wrongdoing and allows us to engage with the spiritual realm positively.
This quote emphasizes the transformative power of repentance, suggesting that our past actions can be purified through sincere remorse and a change in disposition. It underscores that this process is continuous, and the depth of our repentance affects our connection to the Holy Spirit, encouraging daily self-reflection and humility.
In practice
In a sermon about forgiveness, one might use this quote to illustrate the importance of daily repentance.
When men search for God with their bodily eyes they find Him nowhere, for He is invisible. But for those who ponder in the Spirit He is present everywhere. He is in all, yet beyond all.
I have never felt that the one thing that I am 'known for' is what I am.
A dispassionate white sun shone at the summit of the sky. I wanted to hone myself on it till I grew saintly and thin and essential as the blade of a knife.
Once lead this people into war, and they'll forget there ever was such a thing as tolerance. To fight, you must be brutal and ruthless, and the spirit of ruthless brutality will enter into the very fiber of our national life, infecting Congress, the courts, the policeman on the beat, the man in the street.
There is something tragic about the enormous number of young men there are in England at the present moment who start life with perfect profiles, and end by adopting some useful profession.
Even though we may focus first on the rights of our own country, that does not mean that we should disregard the rights of everyone else.
If you use your mind to study reality, you won't understand either your mind or reality. If you study reality without using your mind, you'll understand both.
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