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

Disciple: Tell me, master, how does man often show his foolishness?

Master: The foolish man often asks God to be merciful; when the mercy comes, he does not accept it, as it did not come the way he wanted it, but more the way the Divine Physician wanted it. 

Disciple: What happens when he rejects God's mercy?

Master: He does things on his own and, as a result, is thrown into confusion.

Disciple: Then...?

Master: He blames God for the confusion and for not extending His mercy and ends up blaspheming God.

Disciple: How does God show His mercy?

Master: God expresses His mercy by telling us exactly what we must do through the words of the masters of the spiritual life, like the Fathers.


St. Maximus the Confessor, The Ascetical Life

(updated 05-01-02)