In this most amazing day for All Orthodox Christians, I am pondering to the great saying of Elder Macarius of Optina:
Christ says, as it were: I accepted the cross for the salvation of mankind;
and whomsoever I specially long to draw unto myself, on him do I first shower
sorrows; his heart do I first pierce with arrows dipped in the wormwood of
grief. This I do so that he may die to the extreme fascination, to the
sweetness, of transitory joys and powers. The scourge of sorrows is the banner
of my love. Thus did I wound the heart of my servant David; but when the stream
of tribulations had separated him from the world, then did a dread meditation,
an unwonted, blessed trend of thought well up in his mind and take full
possession of his whole being....I give thanks to Thee O Lord, have mercy on me!
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