Every person who loves God will sooner or later go through the fire of
pain. Not because God is punishing him, but because God is preparing him.
Because without pain there is no depth and no judgment.
The world today fears sorrow, avoids it, considers it an injustice. But in
reality, pain is the surest path to God. It is
that moment when all human supports crumble and
you and God are left alone. And then for the first time you hear His voice clearly in
your heart. Elder Paisios explained that pain
is not an enemy, but a blessing in disguise.
The greater the pain, the closer God is, he said.
Because when the soul hurts, it softens and a person with a soft heart can
love, forgive, and understand. He also said that pain matures a
person and elevates the soul. God allows trials not to
crush us, but to purify us, as gold is purified in
fire. Whoever has gone through pain and remained faithful,
holds within him a light that never goes out.
Many wonder why good people suffer, why those they
love are tested more. And the elder answered simply,
good people of God suffer so that the world can be saved.
God allows them to suffer so that others can be supported through them.
The pain of the righteous, he said, is a prayer that ascends to heaven.
Every tear, every sigh is not wasted.
Do not grumble in trial. It is medicine for the soul, he said.
Because trial does not come to hurt us, but to heal us.
Pain heals pride, weakens the ego and opens the way to
grace. In the discourses B spiritual awakening, the
elder says, "Sorrow is a factory of joy.
The soul enters there dark and comes out bright.
Because where man thinks everything is over, God's work begins.
And when you don't find an answer to why, remember that God does not explain.
He acts. His silence is not indifference, he said.
It is trust. He lets us go through the darkness to
learn to seek the light. Elder Paisios himself experienced
great pain, physical and mental,
but he never complained. "I thank God for the pain," he said,
"Because it made me better understand others who suffer."
This was the discourse that he could speak to every wounded soul, not
theoretically, but through tearful experience. Whoever did not hurt, did not love, he said.
Because love without a cross is shallow, like faith without sacrifice.
Christ did not promise us a life without tears, but resurrection. after the cross.
Therefore, pain is not our condemnation, it is our discipleship.
He once said to someone who complained about sorrows,
if you knew how much grace pain brings, you would ask for it yourself.
When the soul endures with faith, God pours sweetness and light into it and
then the person rejoices in his sorrow without being able to explain it.
In the discourses on passions and virtues he emphasizes that happiness does not lie in having a
good time but in making others happy in your pain.
The soul that hurts and prays becomes a mirror of God. Spiritual courage
is seen when there is no hope and yet you insist on believing.
When all seems lost and you say glory to God. This is courage. Not
cruelty. True strength is not not to hurt.
It is to hurt and to you continue to love. Pain is the key that opens the
door to humiliation and in humiliation God dwells.
That is why the saint said, "when you suffer and do not complain, pain becomes
prayer and prayer a miracle. Everything that hurts us has meaning in the eyes
of God. There is no tear that He does not see, no pain that is
wasted. Even if everything seems unfair, remember that God knows best.
And where you think everything is over, He prepares something greater.
In the end, pain does not destroy us, it changes us, it makes us more human,
more compassionate, more luminous. And then man no longer asks why
me, but for whom, Lord. Because he learns that every crucifixion he
bears becomes a prayer for someone else.
The soul that has passed through the fire of pain and has not hardened
has something from heaven in it. This is spiritual courage. Not to not
be afraid of pain, but to turn it into prayer.
And then, as the elder used to say, when you lift your cross with
gratitude, resurrection comes to your heart.
Because pain matures a person and brings him closer to God. And
when God sees a soul that endures with love, he grants it his own peace.
The peace that cannot be explained. Amen.
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