One desiring salvation must always have a heart inclined towards penitence and humbleness, according to the psalmist: “The sacrifice to God is a broken spirit, a broken and humbled heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm. 50:17).
With such a contrite spirit a person can avoid without trouble all the artificial tricks of the devil, whose efforts are all directed towards disturbing the spirit of a person. By this disturbance he sows tares, according to the words of the Gospel: “Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares? He said to them: “An enemy has done this.” (Matthew 13:27-28)
But when a person struggles to have a meek heart and to keep peace in his thoughts, then all the wiles of the enemy are powerless, for where there is peace of thought, God himself resides.
The commencement of the repentance comes from the fear of God and the attention, as the martyr Boniface says. The fear of God is the father of the attention and the attention is the mother of the inner peace. It gives birth to conscience that makes the soul to see its ugliness as in some clean water. So, the beginnings and the root of the repentance are born. We sadden the greatness of God with our sinning throughout our entire lives, and so must always humbly ask the Lord forgiveness for our sins…
When we sincerely repent for our sins and when we turn to the Lord Jesus Christ with all our heart, He rejoices, He establishes a Celebration and invites all the heavenly hosts, showing them the drachma, found again, i.e. His royal image and likeness.
Putting the lost sheep on His shoulders, He detains it to His Father. In the dwelling of those who rejoice, along with those who didn’t step away from Him, God places the soul that repented.
Seraphim of Sarov
English translate: Violeta Nedanovska
