Monday
II Cor. 12:10-19; Mark 4:10-23
The Lord breathed the breath of life, and man became in the image of God. It is the same with one's own rebirth: the beginnings of a new life are established and one's image is renewed by the breath of the Spirit of God; and whence and how it comes is not known. This is the point of departure; from here the work of raising up the image to a perfect likeness begins. When we are reborn according to the image of the Creator by the Lord's Spirit, we are transfigured from glory to glory-but not without us, our work and effort. However, it is God Who creates and restores us by the grace of the Most Holy Spirit, according to faith in the Lord. Behold the ideal and method of fulfilling in oneself the image and likeness of God! People so often write about and discuss education will proceed successfully to its goal. This is God's path, but it does not exclude human paths-on the contrary, it gives them direction and crowns their success. When only the human remains, education is usually insufficient, even detrimental, and often totally perverts those being educated; then the rest of life goes awry. Where those educated in a distorted manner multiply, all of society becomes more and more distorted, both in life and in its attitudes. The end is universal distortion; one bends in one direction, another bends in another.
-From St. Theophan the Recluse
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