Friday, January 23, 2009

On Thoughts--St. Nikolai Velimirovich

About the most all-discerning Prophet [Jesus]

"Why do you harbor evil thoughts in your hearts" (St. Matthew 9:4).

When our Lord deigned to direct a rebuke to the Pharisees and Scribes, at that time, they had not killed anyone, nor had they deceived anyone, nor had they looted anyone and, not only that, at that time, they had not even offended anyone by their words. Why then, did our Lord admonish them when they had not committed any sin neither in works nor in words? Why? Because, at that time, their thoughts were evil.

An evil thought is sin! That is the great news which Christ brought into the world. In truth, an evil thought is the sinful source of all sin because, before a man says something or does something sinful, he thinks sinfully. Thought is the causative sin. All other sins are only subsequent sins. Whoever wishes to annihilate those evil actions must uproot those evil thoughts first. Whoever desires to stem the flow of water must first dry up the source. Therefore, let no one justify himself: I am not a sinner, for I have not killed anyone nor looted from anyone nor profaned anyone nor lied to anyone! Behold, we are full of deadly looting, profaning and deceiving thoughts! If we have not committed sin by our own deeds, that is simply a matter of the mercy of God and external circumstances. But, if God had yielded and if the circumstances were favorable, we would have committed all those sins that we had thought. The serpent is not only venomous when it bites but also when it does not bite, because it carries the venom in itself.

Therefore, not only is thought a sin, but also it is the source of sin: the beginning of sin and the seed and root of sin. That is why the All-seeing and All-knowing Lord rebuked those who had evil thoughts. "Why do you harbor evil thoughts in your hearts."

O Lord, All-seeing and All-knowing, help us to cleanse our hearts and minds from evil thoughts so that our words and deeds may be pure.

[From the Prolog reading of the day--January 24]

5 comments:

mk said...

Hey Mike,
the paypal donation link just goes to my paypal account, doesn't tell me where to send money.

Anonymous said...

I logged into Paypal (I already had an account), and then clicked on the tab called "Send Money." From there I was able to send Mike a payment using his email address(michael.tishel@gmail.com). I was notified that the payment did go through on my card. On his end, he is notified via email, and then claims the payment. Then, the transaction will be complete. A unique ID # is provided to the credit card holder to track the transaction. Hope this is helpful!
Mike, perhaps you can include your email address in the donation section of your blog :-)
God bless! JT

Anonymous said...

PS-
....Mike, this did work, right?
:-)

MikeT said...

PROBLEM SOLVED! I'm very sorry about that...PayPal randomly changes the HTML code for the button which made it difficult to figure out...but all is well now...now it will take you to the donations page where you dont have to log in.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

with love,
Mike

MikeT said...

PS

YES! Your payment went through. I received the initial e-mail but actually did not see the link at the bottom where I needed to confirm the payment.

AGAIN, THANK YOU SO MUCH!

with love in Christ,
Mike