Answers of the Great Masters of the Spiritual Life to the Questions of Their Disciples.

Disciple: Does God rejoice at the good and is He angered by evil? 

Master:  Rejoicing and anger are passions; and passion does not exist in God.

Disciple: Does God help the good and harm the evil?

Master:  God is good and does only good. He harms no one.

Disciple: What is the evil in sin?

Master:  With sin, God does not shine in us; evil links us with our tormentors, the demons.

Disciple: How do we remove the evil in us?

Master:  Through prayers and good deeds, we obtain absolution for our sins. By such acts, it does not mean we have propitiated and changed God. By repentance, it is we who, turning to God, cure the evil in us and again become partakers of God's goodness.

Disciple: In other words. . .

Master:  When we sin, it is like becoming blind before the sun. God still shines, God still loves us; but we have become blind, closing ourselves to Him.

St. Anthony: On the Saintly Life"

(07-26-03)