Fr Touma (Bitar): We were Created for the Joy of the Resurrection

 Arabic original here.

We were Created for the Joy of the Resurrection

If the devil achieved what he longs for with regard to man, he would tear him apart completely, but your Lord doesn't let him and indeed, He turns all his plots against him for man's benefit, on the condition that man take refuge in his Lord, adheres to Him, entrusts himself to Him completely with sincerity and steadfastness in his innermost thoughts. If man does not do this in this way, then no matter what the son of Adam does, by his own will, without realizing it, he falls into the devil's snares because Satan is the worst and most insidious, the most expert in lies and tricks and he is a murderer. There is no salvation from the evil one for man apart from the Lord Jesus Christ!

The devil's newest weapon against man is existential fear, to the point of panic and terror.

If you do not believe in God, Satan takes you by persuasion and enticement. He colonizes your mind and thoughts, turning your very being and your heart into a cold lump of stone, such that you lose feeling for your neighbor. The devil's concern, in such a case, is to convince you that this is all from you. This is you! There is no all-powerful god and there are no devils. Here, in this context, a person likes to justify the state he is in as being in conformity with what science says, in agreement with what is logical and in harmony with his personal convictions. The apogee of Satan's wickedness is for him to have is mind at work in you, for you to imagine things as he portrays them to you and to convince you that if you act in this way, then you will be exercising freedom, achieving self-actualization, that you will become a superman and a god! You don't need any god outside yourself! It has been given to you to be a god in yourself! This is what Satan doggedly tries to sow within your inner being.

But if you do believe in God, then Satan focuses on crippling you with fear. Your Lord does not answer your prayer quickly and his is in order to root you firmly in faith in God. All the more so, you do not encounter Him on the level that you expect, in the way you desire, at the time you have set to come to him. The Lord does this because H wants everything for your benefit and salvation. His eye is on liberating you from your passions, rooting you in denying your own will, having you acquire virtue, training you in humility and patience, as a doctor strives to heal a patient from a longstanding and deeply-rooted illness that tyrannizes him. Man is shortsighted, while your Lord does not stop at the limits of what you are used to asking for and are satisfied with. Man's concern is with what belongs to the eye and the body and your Lord's concern is with what belongs to the heart and innermost being.

In this case, Satan takes the opportunity to say to you, "Do you see? There is no god! If your Lord existed and was active, then He would answer you!" This is because the evil one speaks to your passions while you, in your fallenness and sin, so long as he is the one who causes every existential fault in you and what you behold is from the deepest well of his heart. You imagine, in the state you find yourself in, that this is "you" and that this is your nature, in the image of the distortion that takes hold of you and which you think is original to you since you came into being.

Satan's concern is to snatch away your faith through doubt, through fear, through hardship, through confusion, by interpreting God's intentions erroneously. He always strives to drag you into despairing over your God by subjecting you to every sort of temptation. He suggests to you that there is no way for you to not fall into temptation. If you don't fall now, then you'll fall soon enough! As though you were faced with something inevitable. And if you do fall, he follows up on having made you fall with another temptation, which is that you do not benefit! He works to confine you and surround you with feelings of helplessness, despair, emptiness and the habit of fleeing as a way of coping in order to be rid of the pressure of temptation, accompanied by every sort of excuse.

But you must believe, trust, be certain, submit to the fact that in the end, your Christ will be victorious in you! "All the nations have surrounded me and in the name of the Lord I conquered them!" Nothing and no one can harm you if you do not harm yourself! And you are harming yourself if you despair, if you estrange yourself from the Lord's Christ!

At first glance, things seem to you like you are before an impasse. Cares, hardships, difficulties, pain, suffering on every side. You feel suffocated. You find yourself trapped, surrounded. Do not surrender! Do not throw down your weapon! Understand, once and for all, that your Christ is with you, in you and at your side, not because you are good, but because He is good! You are precious to Him and He will not abandon you, not only because He loves you, but because He is love! He is present and active within you. He treats you as an extension of Himself. "Not a hair of your head will perish except by your heavenly Father's permission."

Then your Lord is capable of everything. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. No matter the difficulties you face, and no matter the dangers threatening you, by a movement of His finger He is able to put a stop to them in a moment. But He only gives you what benefits you, at a time that you do not know, but which He knows with absolute precision.

Now you do not find yourself capable of facing what besets you and you do not find within yourself courage, boldness or strength. So what? Do you not know that you must come to your Lord from weakness? But stay steadfast until the end! When the hour is ripe, He will not only support you, but extend to you a spirit of power and boldness. Persist in calling upon Him and clinging to Him and you will meet Him, eventually. He will stand you firm, but at the edge of despair, without letting you fall prey to despair.

You must have the experience, time and again, that you are about to fall. Don't fear! You will not fall! No harm will come to you. Living is the God before Whom I stand! Don't be concerned about understanding. You won't understand. It's enough for you to accept and to surrender yourself to Him. Your logic is of no use to you. Your preparing yourself is abhorrent to Him. "It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord." This was already given to you, because we are children of hope! "And hope in God is not put to shame."

And if you are to fall into temptation, your Lord permits your falling for your benefit. Do not cast blame on God, but on yourself. Then important thing is for you to get back up, always, once more, for you to repent, even if you fall is repeated many times! "Everything works together for good for those who love God." The good is not for you to be without sin, because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, but for you to always rise in repentance!

You must not forget that Christ is risen! We were created for joy! Even the sorrow that we have turns to joy. Otherwise, there is no meaning to the words of the Chosen Apostle, that through the cross joy has come into the whole world!

No matter what the suffering these days, we must not let the evil one cast us into sorrows! We know that the hour is coming when we find ourselves, and our Lord has placed a limit to the serpent's mockery. There is no doubt about this!

"Arise, O God, and judge the earth, for You shall inherit all the nations!"

Archimandrite Touma (Bitar)

Abbot of the Monastery of Saint Silouan-- Douma, Lebanon

May 7, 2023