Elder Arsenie Episode 157 - Spiritual Warfare part 12
Oct 26, 2026 · 4 min · 3 segments
Grace came when he set himself in motion.
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Oct 26, 2026 · 4 min · 3 segments
Grace came when he set himself in motion.
We're picking up towards the bottom of page 57.
So they went into the wilderness.
where he lived in obedience to the old man for three years.
Such movement, such grace.
He was tormenting himself at the wedding, but there was no grace.
Grace came when he set himself into motion.
we may be filled with a great inspiration like St. Macarius to live a life radically committed to God.
And he can arrange the circumstances just right.
But if we don't move, if we don't take action, that grace is left unused.
But God didn't send the archangel to scoop up St. Macarius and rescue him from the wedding.
The saint was free, free to give in to the societal expectation and to do what everyone else wanted him to do.
Often we become paralyzed in our uncertainty.
No one told St. Macarius that the archangel was going to be his elder in the wilderness for three years.
He wasn't granted foreknowledge of how everything was going to work out, but he had faith, faith that allowed him to act, even with all of the details still murky.
If God just handed us a set of instructions and how to navigate each situation, if he made his will known to us with that degree of certainty, we may be very obedient, but we'd have very little need for prayer or for faith.
Rather, more often, God gives us an inspiration or some encounter with our neighbor that causes a certain stirring within our heart.
The details are unknown, and we may be filled with many questions and uncertainty, but if we seek good counsel from our spiritual Father and take even just a step towards what we discern God is calling us to, His grace is alive because we've responded to it.
It's set in motion.
It's reminiscent of St. Joseph the Hesychast.
He desired true prayer, prayer of the heart.
He didn't sit around and lament the fact that he didn't have someone to guide him.
We're picking up towards the bottom of page 57.
So they went into the wilderness.
where he lived in obedience to the old man for three years.
Such movement, such grace.
He was tormenting himself at the wedding, but there was no grace.
Grace came when he set himself into motion.
we may be filled with a great inspiration like St. Macarius to live a life radically committed to God.
And he can arrange the circumstances just right.
But if we don't move, if we don't take action, that grace is left unused.
But God didn't send the archangel to scoop up St. Macarius and rescue him from the wedding.
The saint was free, free to give in to the societal expectation and to do what everyone else wanted him to do.
Often we become paralyzed in our uncertainty.
No one told St. Macarius that the archangel was going to be his elder in the wilderness for three years.
He wasn't granted foreknowledge of how everything was going to work out, but he had faith, faith that allowed him to act, even with all of the details still murky.
If God just handed us a set of instructions and how to navigate each situation, if he made his will known to us with that degree of certainty, we may be very obedient, but we'd have very little need for prayer or for faith.
Rather, more often, God gives us an inspiration or some encounter with our neighbor that causes a certain stirring within our heart.
The details are unknown, and we may be filled with many questions and uncertainty, but if we seek good counsel from our spiritual Father and take even just a step towards what we discern God is calling us to, His grace is alive because we've responded to it.
It's set in motion.
It's reminiscent of St. Joseph the Hesychast.
He desired true prayer, prayer of the heart.
He didn't sit around and lament the fact that he didn't have someone to guide him.
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