Father, can we overcome hardship?- You can, if you want. You cannot do anything, if you don’t want to. Love thy neighbour! Well, not like you would love your own wife and children – nobody asks you that. But don’t harm him. THAT is an act of love. Because you don’t realise – if you want to shake heaven and earth, how much power lies in the simple fact of saying: “God, please forgive him!”
Everyone will realise then how important it is for one not to hate, in this world. If you can help someone – and also feel sorry for your own lack of control and proper Christian attitude – then fine.
How does one get one’s peace of heart?
- Let us fulfill Christ’s word; let us follow Christ. [And think about our guardian angel] – our guardian angel is given to us by God; he has unspeakable beauty! [To think that some say there are no angels, and no devils, and no God.] But what if there is God? What have you got to lose? Think about it that way: what if there is this great chasm and a narrow bridge over it – and there’s someone who says that there is nothing there (as the chasm is covered up with leaves and all you can see is a harmless path) – what do you do then? You must cross over to the other side, because — what if it’s all true? It is NOT WORTH risking your life by not believing. One can risk one’s money, one’s reputation – but not one’s life.
And that’s confessor father’s advice, I’m telling you. [smiling]
Fr. Arsenie Papacioc in a televised programme on Romanian Orthodox TV channel, “Trinitas”, December 31, 2010
