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Gary G. Hoag
“Blind Pharisee!”— Matthew 23:26; John 1:12; Ephesians 4:13
Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. Matthew 23:26
"The texts of the Philokalia are, then, guides to the practice of the contemplative life. They constitute, as St Nikodimos puts it in his introduction, 'a mystical school of inward prayer' where those who study may cultivate the divine seed implanted in their hearts at baptism and so grow in spirit that they become ‘sons of God’ (John 1:12), attaining through such deification ‘the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ’ (Ephesians 4:13).
The emphasis is therefore on inner work, on the cleansing of ‘the inside of the cup and plate, so that their outside may also be clean’ (Matthew 23:26). This does not mean that what one might call outer work - the keeping of the commandments and the practice of the moral virtues - is of no importance. On the contrary, such work is a pre-condition of that purification without which no real progress in inner work can be made.
Indeed, in this respect outer and inner complement one another. Atrophy or defeat follow only when outer work is practiced as an end in itself, and the one thing needful - the inner practice of guarding the intellect and of pure prayer - is neglected. St Nikodimos himself remarks that such neglect is only too common: many there are who wear their whole life away in outer work, with the result that grace diminishes in them and they fail to realize the illumination of consciousness and purity of heart which are the goal of the spiritual path that the Philokalia charts for us."
E. Kadloubovsky and G. E. H. Palmer in the "Introduction" to The Philokalia: The Complete Text: Volume 1, compiled by St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarius of Corinth (London: Faber & Faber, 1979) 14.
I have shifted from Meister Eckhart to Nikodimos and Makarius in The Philokalia to gain insight and inspiration for my service in China and to equip and inspire you for your service wherever God has you.
Nikodimos reminds us that it is needful to give attention to "the inner practice of guarding the intellect and of pure prayer." We tend to neglect these things. It's like we say to God, "I can take it from here."
If we want God's grace to abound in and through us. If we want our good works and generosity to grow in strength and power and blessing, we must focus on the inside and the outside will take care of itself.
Thanks for your prayers for me ministering in Qingdao, China this week. May God bless you wherever He has you serving and as you "guard your intellect and pray" leaving the rest up to Jesus.
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