When men search for God with their bodily eyes they find Him nowhere, for He is invisible. But for those who ponder in the Spirit He is present everywhere. He is in all, yet beyond all.
Symeon The New TheologianRead
Through repentance the filth of our foul actions is washed away. After this, we participate in the Holy Spirit, not automatically, but according to the faith, humility and inner disposition of the repentance in which our soul is engaged. For this reason it is good to repent each day as the act of repentance is unending.
Interpretation
Repentance cleanses us from wrongdoing and allows us to engage with the spiritual realm positively.
This quote emphasizes the transformative power of repentance, suggesting that our past actions can be purified through sincere remorse and a change in disposition. It underscores that this process is continuous, and the depth of our repentance affects our connection to the Holy Spirit, encouraging daily self-reflection and humility.
In practice
In a sermon about forgiveness, one might use this quote to illustrate the importance of daily repentance.
When men search for God with their bodily eyes they find Him nowhere, for He is invisible. But for those who ponder in the Spirit He is present everywhere. He is in all, yet beyond all.
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He did not like the grown-ups who talked down to him, but the ones who went on talking in their usual way, leaving him to leap along in their wake, jumping at meanings, guessing, clutching at known words, and chuckling at complicated jokes as they suddenly dawned. He had the glee of the porpoise then, pouring and leaping through strange seas.
Men are naturally most impressed by diseases which have obvious manifestations, yet some of their worst enemies creep on them unobtrusively.
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