my Articulate Heart

We are more keen to appear holy than to be holy. The prayers uttered are often a recounting of our own goodness. It becomes a mere hypocritical act to praise ourselves and to hail us better than others. We are obsessively content with exterior display. We are content if we look good in the eyes of others. This is vanity, pride masquerading as humility. Our prayers do not pierce the clouds, instead destroys what is left of spirituality within us. In the eastern tradition, during the lent, the monks would disperse themselves into the desert far from each other. The penance, self dedication, mortification etc that they do were only known to themselves and God. Even when they are back in the monastery, nobody asks what they did. This was done so that no one does anything in order to look good in the eyes of the other, but purely for the love for God. True humility is unpretentious and is effortless. For the humble, his own sinful nature will always be a reality before him, even if h...

The poor in spirit are pure in spirit.  They belong in the kingdom of God. Worry and anxiety does not hinder their vision. They see God face to face. Poverty is a blessed prerequisite to the kingdom of God. But in todays materialistic world poverty is branded as backward and undesirable. The very first beatitude underlines " blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the the kingdom of God . [Mathew 5:3] If you want to know how poor you are in spirit, check how peaceful you are within. Worry and anxiety about the things of this world are signs of pride and lack of trust in God. We are slaves of our own desires. These desires dominate us and blinds our vision. But if our will rises above them, we will have clear dominion over them and experience the fulfilment of all our desires in union with Christ. When our soul is able to see the face of God, It can do wonders with our bodies. When our Body submits itself totally to the soul aligning itself to the will of God, we ex...