Monday
Rom. 9:18-33; Matt. 11:2-15
The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violence take it by force (Matt. 11:12). The Kingdom suffereth violence-that is, it is attained with violence, with labor, force, and difficult spiritual struggles. Therefore, only those who lead a labor-filled ascetic life attain it. Thus, every sort of comforts renounced along the path to the Kingdom. Pleasures of all types distance us from the Kingdom. But these days we have concern only for pleasures- sometimes emotional, but more often fleshly: to eat, drink, have fun, make merry, and luxuriate in everything. We have said to the Kingdom, "I beg you to excuse me," although there is a feast in the Kingdom-a royal feast-one so sumptuous that we could not even conceive of it, because we do not have the taste for it. What is considered sweet there is bitter to us, what is pleasant there is repulsive to us, what gladdens one there is a burden for us. We have gone totally separate ways. And the Kingdom, together with the violent who take it by force, withdraws from us. We are glad about this, and are even ready to drive them away more quickly. Indeed, we have already started talking about it, but the evil one has not yet managed to arrange this.
-From St. Theophan the Recluse
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