WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2008
My
Rule of Life
By
the grace of God...
1. Strive always and in all things to love God and to make that love your
heart’s desire. As St. Herman of Alaska has exhorted us, "From this day
forth, from this hour, from this minute, let us love God above all, and so fulfill the
will of God." The love of God is its own reward, seek no other in His Kingdom.
2. Worship God in spirit and truth. God the Word is living and true; let
your prayers be offered to Him also as living and true. The words of the Divine Services
delivered to us from Christ’s holy Apostles are from God and return to Him. As He
inhabits our praises let us also inhabit them with attentive hearts and minds.
3. Love the family that God so graciously has given you. Keep this
stewardship in gentleness and with piety. Honor your wife and extol her virtues as Christ
crowns His Church with glory and gives it grace. Do not constrain your children to love
God or to worship Him but by being a loving, patient and merciful father be the icon of
God for them; that in God’s house as in their own home they might be bold to draw
near to Him in faith and love.
4. Always have regard for the poor and love them as God loves them. Serve
the poor as if they were your lords and judges, for if you neglect them in this life they
surely shall be in the next!
5. Do not judge your brother or sister neither condemn anyone; for only
God can see the thoughts and intents of one’s heart and He alone is Judge and Ruler
of all. Rather esteem yourself lower than your brother or sister and become a servant of
all.
6. Always be mindful of your own sins so that you constantly flee to God
in repentance. By doing this you draw ever nearer to the loving and tender mercy of God,
you gain compassion for your neighbor, and are less likely to judge him and unjustly
rejoice at his faults and misfortunes.
7. Do good works always. Whenever possible do your good works in secret so
that you may offer them as a gift of love to God alone and so participate in the salvation
of whole world.
8. Fasting is not an end but a means to true love of God and worship of
Him. When you fast it is an offering to God. If you feed the poor by your fasting you have
fulfilled the perfect law of God’s love. Therefore let your fasting be undertaken
secretly, in humility and with generosity. It is better to eat in humility than to fast
with boasting.
9. Pray always. The Apostle Paul has taught us to pray without ceasing.
The holy Apostles have taught us to pray the Lord’s Prayer at least five times a day.
St. Theophan has taught us that prayer should be like breathing. Ceaseless prayer is the
natural state of a human in communion with God in Christ; it is a function of our being.
Like breathing, like the beats of the heart, like blood coursing through the veins, prayer
is what gives us life and sustains us; for it carries the divine life of God to us.
10. Begin your day, if possible, with Matins and end it with Compline or
at least the Trisagion Prayers. Pray the Jesus Prayer*
throughout the day. Learn the Psalms and recite them
throughout the day. Let each day be contained in the worship of God so that every thing
you do may become an act of worship.
11. Never fear to speak of the love of God to anyone. Encourage all who
seek Him. Prepare the world for the coming of God’s Kingdom one person at a time.
12. Do not strive to be the person that you imagine you can be, be the
person God is making you to be.
--Priest Robert K. McMeekin
*Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.
<BACK
