Becoming a Healing Presence: Breathing the Name Jesus, pt.2

Tonight, we will be discussing chapter 2 “Breathing the Name Jesus” of Dr. Albert S. Rossi’s book Becoming a Healing Presence.  If you have attempted to sit in silence and stillness in the presence of God, you will discover the impossibility of the task. Even those monastics that have dedicated their lives towards an inner stillness tell us that the rational mind can never keep silent (St. Mark the Ascetic) and that thoughts move restlessly through our heads like the buzzing of flies (St. Theophan the Recluse). I have attached an excerpt (pp.98-102) from Bishop Kallistos Ware’s The Inner Kingdom on hesychia (Greek for “stillness” or “silence”). Ware speaks of two methods to combat our restless thoughts. The first is simply to will our thoughts away, which, as he points out, is more often counterproductive. (Don’t think about thinking usually doesn’t work.) The alternative is simply to redirect our thoughts away from their object and towards Jesus through the repetition of a short Jesus-focused prayer.  If you have time today, please read through this short excerpt.   

Dinner is at 6. The menu is tacos. Discussion begins about 6:45. Hope to see you here.  

Rejoice Always. Pray Unceasingly. Give Thanks Constantly.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18a

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