Reflections on Prayer
“One must force himself to Prayer when he has not Spiritual Prayer;
and thus God, beholding him thus striving and compelling himself by
force, in spite of an unwilling heart, gives him the true Prayer of the
Spirit.” ~ Saint Macarius the Great
Reflections on the Sacrament of Confession
“At the instant that it is revealed, a wrong thought grows weaker.
Even before discretion puts him to trial, the disgusting snake begins
to flee from his dark underground cave into the light — drawn forth
like this by confession. He is sent away and disgraced; his poisonous
influences reign in us only as long as they are hidden away in our
hearts.” ~ Abba Moses
Regular confession is the foundation of a spiritual life. With one
voice across the centuries, the saints and hierarchs have insisted
that Christians center their lives around frequent confession,
ideally on a weekly or monthly basis, or in the very least,
throughout the year. To undergo the spiritual path without
frequent confession is a spiritual trap that leads to delusion and
stunted spiritual maturity. Confession heals and purifies
regardless of whether one’s confessor is wise or foolish. In itself,
this sacrament banishes the power of destructive thoughts, and
cultivates discernment, humility, and purity of heart.
The Power of Confessing Thoughts
Abba Moses: “At the instant that it is revealed, a wrong thought
grows weaker. Even before discretion puts him to trial, the
disgusting snake begins to flee from his dark underground cave
into the light — drawn forth like this by confession. He is sent
away and disgraced; his poisonous influences reign in us only as
long as they are hidden away in our hearts” (Opperwall 168).
Opening Our Minds to Scrutiny
“For Abba Moses, confession is most importantly about opening
up the mind to the scrutiny of another Christian person. To
open the mind in this way helps, by its very nature, to mitigate
against the power of sin by bringing our feelings out into the
clear air. As he says here, the power of confession is already
manifest even before we begin to reflect on the sins we have
confessed by exercising discretion. To give voice to our failings
takes most of the wind out of their sails immediately”
(Opperwall 168).
Confession Cultivates Humility
Abba Moses: “True discernment, he said, is only acquired…by
true humility. The first sign of such humility comes when both
everything one plans to do and everything one thinks are
submitted to the elders for examination” (169).
Confession Teaches Us Discernment
“Discernment is most essentially the virtue by which the
Christian avoids falling into intellectual [and spiritual] errors…
Abba Moses teaches explicitly that a form of confession is a
critical way of actively carrying out the work of developing such
discernment by talking straightforwardly with of the elders…
“In confession we seek to develop a relationship with at least one
person who can offer a check on our own intellectual whims, and
thus help us to cultivate the discernment required to navigate a
world of misleading ideas and outright lies…If we ignore this
opportunity and seek to walk the Christian path entirely on our
own, we are obviously far more susceptible to being guided astray
by our own thinking, our own mistakes, and our own sins” (169).
Confession Helps Realign Our Focus
“Confession is most important for us as lay people when we have
fallen from our pursuit of purity of heart in ways that we
ourselves may not properly see. The keen eyes of a good confessor
often help us to think about our failings in different terms, notice
failings we have forgotten, and renew our struggle against the
ones that we see. Through all this, the confessor helps guide us
back to our goal As such, confession is perhaps the most
straightforward of all spiritual sign-posts in the life of a lay
person. Having someone assist in the work of identifying the
specific particulars of our straying from the path, and offer
concrete advice for returning to it” (Opperwall 169-170).
When Your Lack a Wise Confessor
One is not always able to find a confessor that offers sound and
wise advice. This can make us gun-shy and nervous about
confession. Nonetheless, confession is a sacrament and the grace
and healing comes from God, not the confessor. One should
confessor regardless of the sagacity of one’s confessor.
“Abba Moses keenly observers…[one] must confess regardless of
this, even if he has been burned more than once, and asserts that
the practice of confession will continue to offer healing and a
good example of Christian life no matter how many bad elders
one might encounter” (171).
“For Abba Moses, getting bad advice in a confession is no reason
to discontinue the practice, because bringing one’s thoughts and
sins out into the light remains non-negotiable for overcoming
them…having a good elder is not a prerequisite of confession,
and one can surmise from his words that even if the Christian
spent an entire lifetime seeking out a person capable of offering
wisdom, Abba Moses would insist that they keep confessing to
someone regularly all the while…the act of confession even to
the worst of confessors is a sign-post unto itself and thus
remains critical in the Christian life” (171).
Persevere in Confession
“Persevere in confession. This could mean simply suffering
through with a parish priest who is less than ideal…We must
never lose faith in the power of the act of confession itself.
Confessing even to the worst of elders is a spiritual boon to us as
lay Christians because, if absolutely nothing else, the work of
confession in itself reminds us continually to turn back to our
pursuit of purity of heart” (172).