Yesterday I quoted from Saint Seraphim of Sarov. One of the sayings for which he is known is:
Where there is God, there is no evil. Everything coming from God is peaceful, healthy and leads a person to the judgment of his own imperfections and humility.
I had mentioned two days ago that saints are not picture-postcard saints. That is, they cannot be reduced to simply nice stories of what they did with no implications for us. I had said that saints often shine with God’s burning light, the light that cleanses, so that what they say, if we really trouble to read them, tends to cut us to the quick. This is one of those sayings. I did not choose Saint Seraphim as my patron saint because he is an easy saint. Rather I chose him because when I read his life many years ago, I was taken with him.
You see, he is one of the saints who speaks much about the Holy Spirit and of the peaceful interior life. My journey toward a deeper commitment to Our Lord began in the charismatic movement. I think that the Lord knew that I needed a saint who spoke in words that I could understand, having had no Orthodox theological training when I read about Saint Seraphim. I found that when he spoke of the Holy Spirit I could understand his words and relate them to my experiences while, at the same time, seeing the much greater depth of theology that he expressed, even in his “simple” sayings.
But there was a second reason why I think the Lord shoved me in that direction. And that is that I have always had to fight a quick temper. No, that does not mean that I go around blowing up. But, it does mean that my temper is all too close to the surface. It is a fight that sometimes sneaks up on me unexpectedly, when after a period of piece something will happen that will set off my anger. Again, it does not mean that I express it strongly and outwardly like I used to, but it is there. It struggles to get out and to speak inappropriate words. As Saint Paul said in Romans 7, I find this principle within me which wishes to oppose the Lord Our God. I am everlastingly glad that Saint Paul did say in Romans 8 that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!
And so, here comes this “charismatic” saint who speaks of peace, God, and inner change. The saying above is a particularly challenging one. You see, God is the God of peace. Anger keeps one from seeing clearly one’s own faults and imperfections. Anger convinces one that he/she is right and the other person is wrong. Anger blinds one to one’s own imperfections while offering a magnifying glass to better see the imperfections of others. Though righteous anger does exist, after all Scripture mentions it, the Fathers saw that almost all anger is not righteous, but the result of an abscence of God in the life of the angry person.
And here comes Saint Seraphim, challenging whether God is present in my life. You see, my anger is most inevitably partially (probably mostly) due to an abscence of God in at least part of my life. “Where there is God, there is no evil. Everything coming from God is peaceful …” When I read Saint Seraphim, I am smacked in the face with the fact that my temper not only is not of God, but is indicative of a certain abscence of God in parts of my life. If I were closer to God, not only would I be much more peaceful, but I would also see more clearly my imperfections, and would certainly see the imperfections of others in an appropriate light.
Notice that I did not say that I would not see the imperfections of others. It is not blindness towards others that I desire. Rather, I desire to see them in correct perspective. Blindness towards others is not truth anymore than anger towards others allows me to see the truth. No, I want to see others in an accurate and appropriate fashion, in accord with God’s love, so that–like many of the saints–I may behave towards them in a wise way, in God’s way. But, in order to have God’s sight, I must practice the presence of God so that I might have God’s peace in my heart.
The older I get, the more I understand why the ancient liturgies all had frequent exclamations of “Lord, have mercy” as the answer to the petitions found in the various litanies. The more I consider God and his saints, the more hidden sin comes to light in my life. And yet, if I want to be like Jesus at all in this life (and even in the next), then I must desire for my self-blindness to diminish. I suspect that the more that my self-blindness diminishes and the more of my sin that I see, then the easier it becomes to forgive others, and to be less temperamental with them.
===MORE SAINT SERAPHIM SAYINGS TO COME===
Very interesting Father, anger being a sign that God is absent from a part of our life. Can you speak on the passage about when you have anger and sin not?
The passage you speak of comes from Ephesians 4:26. Saint Jerome says, “Paul is not speaking of that anger in which we find ourselves desiring vengeance. Here he is allowing to us, as vulnerable humans, that in the face of some undeserved event, we may be moved to some level of annoyance, as if a light breeze were disturbing the serenity of the mind. But on no account are we to be carried in swelling rapids by the impulse of rage.”