Spiritual pain control or spiritual healing?
A letter from Abbot Tryphon
Since the Church is the hospital for the soul, it is important we take full advantage of all the resources for healing found within the Church. Confession is the all important beginning for this healing process to begin. The grace imparted during a good confession opens wide the gates of God’s grace, and we begin our inner journey towards reconciliation.
Becoming a frequent communicant of the Holy Mysteries of Christ’s Body and Blood, imparts to us the grace needed for the healing of the soul, and frees the soul from the the bondage that comes from the sin that has weighted us down.
Strictly keeping a Prayer Rule, as directed by our priest or spiritual father, also contributes to the healing process. Reading spiritually uplifting books, as well as the lives of the saints, greatly contributes towards the transformation that can be ours if we take our faith seriously. As well, the fasting rules of the Church are designed to help us become whole, and further the healing process that began when we first made a commitment to living a life in Christ.
If we fail to follow these time tested spiritual practices that are meant to bring about healing of body and soul, we will not find the healing that is available to us. Instead, we will find ourselves treating the Church as though she were simply a hospice, where we get a quick fix for the pain and sin that keeps us from becoming whole, and find ourselves with short term results that only mask the sin and sickness that rule our lives.
It is up to us to decide if we will allow the Church to be a hospital that brings about the cure, or simply a hospice that masks the pain and sin. The choice is ours, and it is a choice that should not be put off, lest the hour come when we are called to account before the Throne of God, and we stand before Him with an unhealed heart.
Love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
