Meditation 55
The garden of the Heart
God desires to see
the flowers of the virtues grow in the live of grace, but the weed of
the enemy of our salvation has also shoot roots in the garden of the
soul. Our Redeemer gave us account of this in one of His parables,
It is in the baptismal grace that God sowed the good seed in the field of the heart. While the powers of the soul slept in their unawareness the enemy came and sowed darnel among the wheat or flowers of the virtues. The darnel are all kinds of evil images concealing disastrous thoughts which the servants of the household – or the celestial hierarchies – did not gather up. But here in the prayer of union the harvest time has arrived and the darnel is gathered and bound in bundles in order to be burnt in the fire of love. But the flowers are gathered to be kept in the divine barn of mercy,
The time of harvest is a time of suffering for the soul, but in spite of that inevitable or by the words of St. Ignaty Brianchaninov,
This the soul has done by striving in humility to open her heart in the prayer “because God, in His love for mankind and according to His goodness which is His nature, bestows that which they desire upon those who ask.” [3] This truth His Majesty emphasized while among us on earth,
First the soul left the house of her fleshly attitude when she walked into this Sanctuary of her Living God. Next she escaped from the house of her senses in the dark night of the senses. And now she has discerned in this night of the spirit how pitiable house she has raised in her spirit in her human presumptuousness. Her relatives, all her erroneous ideas, inclinations, hidden pride and vices, attachments to such things and conducts derived from such a disposition. This was her former homeland, but now she gazes at her “homeland in heaven” (Ph 3. 20), the Celestial City, where she will receive her true inheritance which she lost when she was expelled from the garden of her heart. This she can do now because she has been freed from “this body doomed to death” (Rm 7. 24) as Abba Chearemon said so rightly above (Med. 37).
Her Beloved and becoming Bridegroom has seen that this soul is a worthy bride in her sufferings, she has become lovely in the dark night as she has not fluttered her eyes to other lovers because He is a jealous lover,
Thus this becoming bride is a fruitful earth and her harvest is good when the divine reaper – the Holy Spirit – inspects it, “A field that drinks up the rain that has fallen frequently on it, and yields the crops that are wanted by the owner who grew them, receives God's blessing” (Heb 6. 7). The rain that has fallen on this garden of the heart is God's infused grace in the prayer, the crops the virtues and the field itself the humility of the soul. The Latin word humulus (humility) means off earth, to bow low before God, to proskyneo (Med. 25) before His holy will.
This the soul has done and we can find an analogy regarding this mystery by an experiment our teacher in physics in elementary school thought us to do by putting two glasses on a table and fill one of them by water and raise it two millimeters above the other one which was empty. When they were joined by a pipe the water streamed from the higher to the lower glass and filled it. Same law applies in this world of beauty, love and truth: the soul is gradually filled with grace in her humbleness.
The Kingdom of Heaven
is like a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while people slept.
his enemy came and sowed darnel among the wheat, and went away. But
when the blade sprang up and brought forth fruit, then the darnel
appeared also. The servants of the householder came and said to him,
“Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where did this darnel
come from?” He said to them, “An enemy has done this.” The servants
asked him, “Do you want us to go and gather them up?” But he said, “No,
lest perhaps while you gather up the darnel, you root up the wheat with
them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time
I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the darnel, and bind in
bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn” (Mt 13. 24-30).
It is in the baptismal grace that God sowed the good seed in the field of the heart. While the powers of the soul slept in their unawareness the enemy came and sowed darnel among the wheat or flowers of the virtues. The darnel are all kinds of evil images concealing disastrous thoughts which the servants of the household – or the celestial hierarchies – did not gather up. But here in the prayer of union the harvest time has arrived and the darnel is gathered and bound in bundles in order to be burnt in the fire of love. But the flowers are gathered to be kept in the divine barn of mercy,
Everything seems to
be dry, and it seems there is not going to be any water to sustain it
(the soul) – nor does it appear that there has ever been in the soul
anything of virtue. It undergoes much tribulation because the Lord
desires that it seems to the poor gardener that everything is lost.
This dryness amounts to an authentic weeding and pulling up of the
remaining bad growth by its roots, no matter how small it may be. By
knowing that there is no diligence that suffices if God takes away the
water of grace and by placing little value on nothing that we are, and
even less than nothing, the soul gains much humility. The flowers begin
to grow again. [1]
The time of harvest is a time of suffering for the soul, but in spite of that inevitable or by the words of St. Ignaty Brianchaninov,
The assiduous tiller
of the soil first renews it, pulling out all the weeds, and then sows
the seed. In the same way, he who waits for God to sow seeds of grace
in his soul must cleans the field of his soul so that the seed which
sinks down into the field as a consequence – the Holy Spirit – may
bring forth perfect and abundant fruit. If one does not do this
beforehand, and if a man does not cleanse himself of all defilement of
flesh and spirit, he will continue as flesh and blood, remaining far
from the life of God. [2]
This the soul has done by striving in humility to open her heart in the prayer “because God, in His love for mankind and according to His goodness which is His nature, bestows that which they desire upon those who ask.” [3] This truth His Majesty emphasized while among us on earth,
Everyone who has left
houses, or brother, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or
children, or lands, for my name sake, will receive one hundred times,
and will inherit eternal life!” (Mt 19. 29).
First the soul left the house of her fleshly attitude when she walked into this Sanctuary of her Living God. Next she escaped from the house of her senses in the dark night of the senses. And now she has discerned in this night of the spirit how pitiable house she has raised in her spirit in her human presumptuousness. Her relatives, all her erroneous ideas, inclinations, hidden pride and vices, attachments to such things and conducts derived from such a disposition. This was her former homeland, but now she gazes at her “homeland in heaven” (Ph 3. 20), the Celestial City, where she will receive her true inheritance which she lost when she was expelled from the garden of her heart. This she can do now because she has been freed from “this body doomed to death” (Rm 7. 24) as Abba Chearemon said so rightly above (Med. 37).
Her Beloved and becoming Bridegroom has seen that this soul is a worthy bride in her sufferings, she has become lovely in the dark night as she has not fluttered her eyes to other lovers because He is a jealous lover,
A bride who gives to
another man the love due to her betrothed and goes to live with him,
openly or in secret, not only loses everything promised her by the
bridegroom, but, according to law, must expect a rightful punishment
and disgrace. So it happens with us. For if a soul openly or secretly
transfers its love for the bridegroom – Christ – to some other object
and lets its heart be possessed thereby, it becomes hateful and
distasteful to the Bridegroom and is unworthy of uniting with Him. For
He said, “I love them that love me“ (Prov. 8. 17). [4]
Thus this becoming bride is a fruitful earth and her harvest is good when the divine reaper – the Holy Spirit – inspects it, “A field that drinks up the rain that has fallen frequently on it, and yields the crops that are wanted by the owner who grew them, receives God's blessing” (Heb 6. 7). The rain that has fallen on this garden of the heart is God's infused grace in the prayer, the crops the virtues and the field itself the humility of the soul. The Latin word humulus (humility) means off earth, to bow low before God, to proskyneo (Med. 25) before His holy will.
This the soul has done and we can find an analogy regarding this mystery by an experiment our teacher in physics in elementary school thought us to do by putting two glasses on a table and fill one of them by water and raise it two millimeters above the other one which was empty. When they were joined by a pipe the water streamed from the higher to the lower glass and filled it. Same law applies in this world of beauty, love and truth: the soul is gradually filled with grace in her humbleness.
[1]. Life 14, 9.
[2]. Divine Ascent, p. 103.
[3]. Ibid.
[4]. Philokalia, On the Prayer of the Heart, p 118.
[2]. Divine Ascent, p. 103.
[3]. Ibid.
[4]. Philokalia, On the Prayer of the Heart, p 118.