Episode 12

“Spirit and Truth”

With Fr. Andreas Houpos

---

• Just as Christ cleared out the temple with His whip, in the same manner he comes into our soul to do the same
• Crisis reveals what we are made of
  • When I was able to go to Church, and when I pray now, am I a Christian in Spirit and Truth?
  • There’s a fine line between doing something out of obedience and doing something blindly without understanding it
• We must come to accept that God has allowed our present crisis
  • This crisis should shake us up and reveal to us what is there
  • If our spiritual life is being done like a routine, we are not living in Spirit and Truth
  • Truth cuts people to the heart in a healthy way – it shows what’s there
• We should strive to acquire truth of self as we come to worship 
  • Our purpose – to maintain the likeness of God
• Re: Being unable to go to church and commune
  • When we show kindness and when others show kindness, this is Communion with Christ
• Re: Spiritual discipline not becoming routine 
  • Cling to the Church – recognize the value found in community, in brotherhood
  • Recognize and break the bad patterns
  • Remembrance of death
    • “Lord, help me to remember my mortality”
• Re: Feeling discouraged when we don’t sense God’s response to our prayers
  • In our requests, we must ask for God’s will to be done
    • God has a much greater view of our life and where it is going
  • If you feel that your request has not been answered in a way you wanted or a way you understand, after a certain time, stop asking God and simply trust Him and His will for your life – Thy will be done
    • God will not despise a humbled and broken spirit