Christian life is still in the arena

Presbytera Candace sent me an email containing two worthy meditations from the writings of the late, blessed Hieromonk Seraphim Rose:

"The life of self-centeredness and self-satisfaction lived by most of today’s “Christians” is so all-pervading that it effectively seals them off from any understanding at all of spiritual life; and when such people do undertake “spiritual life,” it is only as another form of self-satisfaction. This can be seen quite clearly in the totally false religious ideal both of the “charismatic” movement and the various forms of “Christian meditation”-- all of them promise (and give very quickly) an experience of contentment and peace. But this is not the Christian ideal at all, which, if anything, may be summed up as a fierce battle and struggle."

"Orthodox Christians! Hold fast to the grace which you have; never let it become a matter of habit; never measure it by merely human standards or expect it to be logical or comprehensible to those who understand nothing higher than what is human… Let all true Orthodox Christians strengthen themselves for the battle ahead, never forgetting that in Christ the victory is already ours."

Both quotes from Fr Seraphim's book, Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future